Press release
On 11 November 2011, during the prestigious Watch of the Year evening organized by the Ringier Group in Geneva, Tag Heuer was twice acclaimed by an audience of over 450 personalities from the world of watchmaking and from communications. The Mikrograph, the first chronograph to display one hundredth of a second, thanks to a central hand, was awarded the best watch of the year by the public, whilst the campaign that supported its launch was awarded the Best Campaign prize. Overwhelming recognition for the brand, the only one who had twice the chance to be on the podium.
“I am incredibly proud of my people: those who developed the Mikrograph as well as those who designed the advertising visuals that made it stand out. For such an innovative watch, we needed a campaign that would also break the mould, by dramatically staging the notion of precision in an original and creative manner” declared Jean-Christophe Babin, Tag Heuer's President and CEO. Designed, patented, developed and manufactured entirely in the TAG Heuer Haute Horlogerie workshop at La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Carrera Mikrograph 1/100th marks a milestone in the watchmaking industry: thanks to an escapement beating at 50hz, or 360,000 vibrations an hour, its central hand can measure and display time with 100th of a second precision. This is a major TAG Heuer innovation, confirming the brand's leadership in the mastery of high frequency and the measurement of infinitely small intervals of time.
Mechanical innovation serving ultimate precision has thus been the driver of the development of the Mikrograph. Two limited editions were launched on the market with 150 pieces each, one with a brown central dial and the other in anthracite grey,. To woo the lover of beautiful timepieces, the advertising visuals needed to be as creative, avant-garde and unexpected as the product they were promoting. It was vital to pay tribute to the art of watchmaking and at the same time deliver a simple message : high precision. And what is more precise than nature itself, so what could be more original than reproducing nature's ultimate perfection using watch components? Developed with CLM BBDO, the TAG Heuer advertising agency, the campaign won the approval of a jury of communication professionals who were able to appreciate the poetry and refinement of the visuals and grasp the significance of the instant of time represented in that artistic way.
TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer celebrates “150 years of Motor Racing” in 2011. Founded in Saint-Imier in 1860 by Edouard Heuer, TAG Heuer has set many major milestones of high-end watchmaking, especially in the field of chronographs and ultimate precision. Today, one of the largest and most desired brands in the luxury watch industry, the Swiss legend draws upon its active engagement in the world of sports to create the most accurate timing instruments and watches in the world. TAG Heuer is the first watchmaker to master luxury chronographs with an unsurpassed precision of 1/10th, 1/100th, 1/1,000th and 1/10,000 of a second. From the Olympic Games in the 1920s to its role as official timekeeper for Formula One in the 90s and the legendary Indy 500 race today, TAG Heuer, in a constant quest for innovation, excellence, performance and prestige, continues to aim ever higher. This is reflected in its partnerships with F1 team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and its World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Audi Sport in the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, and the Automobile Club de Monaco and its Grand Prix. Now actively engaged in the Monaco Grand Prix, the Le Mans 24 and the Indy 500, TAG Heuer is ‘'Mastering Speed'' on motorsport's 3 most iconic racetracks. More than ever, the brand epitomizes prestige and performance through active partnerships with Hollywood icon Leonardo DiCaprio, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, LPGA star Suzann Pettersen and WTA tennis champion Maria Sharapova. TAG Heuer is a privileged member of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), the most exclusive club in the Swiss watchmaking industry. The newest additions to the TAG Heuer legacy are: the Calibre 1887, an in-house, Swiss manufactured, integrated column-wheel chronograph movement that pays tribute to the original Heuer oscillating pinion of 1887, one of the brand's first patents and a major benchmark in modern watchmaking; The TAG HEUER CARRERA 1887 CHRONOGRAPH, named the 2010 Swiss Watch of the Year in the Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève's prestigious “La Petite Aiguille” (“Small Hand”) category ; and the TAG Heuer Carrera Mikrograph 1/100th Second Chronograph, the first ever column wheel integrated mechanical chronograph with 1/100th of a second display by a central hand, which pays tribute to the legendary Heuer Mikrograph stopwatch of 1916.
TAG Heuer's “150 Years of Mastering Speed” celebrations in 2011 commemorate the brand's unrivalled heritage in motor sports, which include such historic contributions as the 1911 patent for 'Time of Trip', the world's first dashboard chronograph. As part of the celebrations, a unique exhibition showcasing TAG Heuer's greatest racing partners and motorsport-inspired timepieces will tour major cities and racing capitals. Four-time F1 World Champion Alain Prost, a friend of the brand since the 1980s, is the “Mastering Speed” Special Ambassador.
