03/02/2020
 6 minutes

The History of Legendary Watch Brand TAG Heuer

By Jorg Weppelink
CAM-1004-Brandweek-Tag-Heuer-2-1

The History of Legendary Watch Brand TAG Heuer

When talking about TAG Heuer, there’s no avoiding the brand’s links to motorsport. This connection began with the creation of stopwatches for race cars and has led to the eventual development of countless racing watches. As a result, the company is famous for releasing some of the most iconic sports chronographs in history. Although their role in the world of fast cars is an important chapter in watchmaking history, there’s a lot more to the brand than motorsport. Let’s take a closer look at the whole story to find out what makes TAG Heuer so special and how they have become the iconic brand they are today.

Heuer Autavia 1163
Heuer Autavia 1163

The Beginnings: A Family Story

The TAG Heuer story begins in the 19th century, long before the company was even called TAG Heuer. Edouard Heuer founded his business, The Heuer Watch Company, in 1860. The original workshop was located in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. This is where Heuer first began working on high-quality timekeeping instruments. It didn’t take long for the business to make a name for itself thanks to its incredible craftsmanship and the precision of their timekeeping instruments.

In addition to creating very precise timepieces, Heuer also invented several improvements that would go on to shape the world of watchmaking. Edouard Heuer developed and patented one of the most important inventions in 1887: the oscillating pinion, which greatly simplified the chronograph. In simplified terms, the pinion couples and decouples the chronograph mechanism and the regular timekeeping mechanism that powers the chronograph. As a result, Heuer chronographs proved to be very precise, and the new mechanism made it easier to manufacture, adjust, and service movements. This invention is still used by many chronograph movement manufacturers to this day, which speaks to its importance.

Connection to Sports

It should come as no surprise that these highly-precise Heuer instruments were in demand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The demand only grew with the development of the Heuer Mikrograph in 1916, the first mechanical stopwatch capable of measuring elapsed time to within 1/100th of a second. This timepiece was developed by Charles-Auguste Heuer, Edouard’s son. Following this release, Heuer instruments started popping up at all kinds of sporting events, including the Olympic Games. In the 1920s, Heuer served as the official timekeeper of the Antwerp (1920), Paris (1924), and Amsterdam (1928) Olympics.

Heuer Vintage Chronograph, circa 1942

Jack Heuer Takes Over

If we fast forward a few decades, we come to another incredible Heuer invention. Walter Hayes, the former chairman of Abercrombie & Fitch, asked Charles Edouard Heuer to develop a watch that could predict the tides. This was the first time that then 15-year-old Jack Heuer – the founder’s great-grandson – was involved in Heuer’s watchmaking process, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Jack Heuer reportedly told his father that the young man’s science teacher, Dr. Heinz Schield, would be able to help them create a tidal watch. It wasn’t long before Heuer introduced the Solunar, a watch that could do exactly what Walter Hayes had requested. This serves as further proof that Heuer was ready to take on any technical challenges that came their way.

Soon thereafter, Jack Heuer started to play a more important role at the company. In 1959, he moved to the United States and was put in charge of the US-branch of Heuer’s business. He was able to make the brand a success in a relatively short period of time but was summoned home by his father in 1962. That was when Jack received the news that his uncle wanted to sell the company. When Jack Heuer heard this, he decided to borrow money to buy some of his uncle’s shares. With the shares he was gifted from his dad, Jack Heuer became the majority shareholder and head of the Heuer Watch Company.

Vintage Heuer Autavia, circa 1966

Finding a Way into Motorsport

With Jack Heuer at the helm, a lot of new and exciting things began happening for the company. Not only did he introduce a number of iconic Heuer chronographs, he also brought a new appreciation for the importance of brand marketing – a skill he had learned during his time in America. The combination of great new products and the ability to market them turned out to be the key to the company’s success in the 1960s and 1970s.

After releasing the Heuer Autavia in 1961 – a name that was initially used for a dashboard clock in 1933 – Heuer introduced the Heuer Carrera in 1963. The Carrera sports chronograph got its name from the Carrera Panamericana, a dangerous race held in Mexico from 1950 to 1954. The Carrera was developed specifically for race car drivers, and stood out with its toughness and perfect legibility. Thanks to its name and racing-inspired design, the Carrera quickly became an industry icon. It remains one of the brand’s most important watches to this day.

Vintage Heuer Carrera, 1960s

Another iconic Heuer sports chronograph that may be even more famous than the Carrera is the Heuer Monaco. The Monaco was introduced in 1969. Its name comes from the eponymous Formula 1 race. Not only was its square case revolutionary for a sports chronograph, but the Calibre 11 also made it the first automatic sports chronograph. However, its real claim to fame came in 1971 when film legend Steve McQueen wore the watch in the movie Le Mans. The film catapulted the Heuer Monaco into the limelight. In fact, many still refer to the model 1133 as the “McQueen Monaco.”

Vintage Heuer Monaco, ref. 1133 B

The Quartz Crisis

After enjoying incredible commercial success in the 1960s and 1970s with the Carrera, Monaco, and Autavia, the Heuer Watch Company, like many brands, fell victim to the quartz revolution in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a result, Jack Heuer was asked to step down from his role as CEO in 1982. The company was then sold to the TAG Group (Techniques d’Avant Garde) in 1985, who renamed the brand TAG Heuer.

Following this re-branding, the business modernized its production facilities and successfully introduced a whole new collection of watches that built upon their achievements in motorsport. The brand was linked to the McLaren Formula 1 team from the 1980s until 2015. In 1991, TAG Heuer first introduced their now-famous slogan “Don’t Crack Under Pressure.”

TAG Heuer Today

In 1999, the TAG Group sold TAG Heuer to LMVH for a staggering $740 million. LMVH has continued driving the brand’s success and has re-introduced some of the most iconic names to the company’s catalog. The Carrera, Monaco, and Autavia are still part of the TAG Heuer’s portfolio. The brand is unanimously recognized as one of the industry’s most legendary companies. That said, the TAG Heuer story would not be complete without Jack Heuer. That’s why Jean Christophe Babin, the then newly-appointed brand CEO, consulted with Jack Heuer at the start of his tenure in 2001. Babin (currently CEO at Bvlgari) and Heuer got along very well – so much so that Babin offered Jack Heuer the position of honorary chairman. For the next ten years, Heuer flew around the world and served as the face of the brand that he and his family had created.

TAG Heuer Mikrograph

To celebrate the brand’s connection to timekeeping, TAG Heuer released a very special trio of watches in 2011 and 2012: the Mikrograph, accurate to within 1/100th of a second; the Mikrotimer, accurate to within 1/1000th of a second; and the Mikrogirder, accurate to within 1/2000th of a second. The movements TAG Heuer had to create to achieve these specifications are testament to their innovative nature. From 2014 to 2018, legendary watch executive and visionary Jean-Claude Biver served as the company’s CEO. Biver ended up partnering TAG Heuer with the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. It was yet another step in the history of TAG Heuer that shows their lasting dedication to motorsport. It’s a dedication that stretches back to the company’s earliest days, and it shows no sign of stopping any time soon.

Read more

The TAG Heuer Monaco and the Race for the First Automatic Chronograph

Is the new TAG Heuer Autavia still a “true” Autavia?

One Brand with many faces: TAG Heuer


About the Author

Jorg Weppelink

Hi, I'm Jorg, and I've been writing articles for Chrono24 since 2016. However, my relationship with Chrono24 goes back a bit longer, as my love for watches began …

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