Calibre 1969

A brief history of time...

In 1969, Jack Heuer and his partners unveiled the Calibre 11, the world’s first automatic chronograph movement, which he housed in the square-shaped Monaco. The movement and its successors - Calibres 12, 14 and 15 - are among the most innovative in the pioneering Swiss brand’s history.

By 1969, the company, which opened its first workshop in 1860, had already well established its credentials, especially in the realm of high-end chronographs. Jack Heuer’s great grandfather, Edouard Heuer, patented his first chronograph in 1882, and in 1887 patented the 'oscillating pinion' still used by major watchmakers of mechanical chronographs. In 1914, Heuer launched its first wrist chronograph; two years later, it stunned the racing world with a 1/100th-of-a-second stopwatch. In 2012, the TAG Heuer Carrera Mikrogirder, the only mechanical chronograph precise to 5/10,000th second, equipped with a never-before-seen regulating system made of micro blades and beating at an incredible 1,000Hz, won the Aiguille d’Or in the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Calibre 1887
 
To strengthen its lock on the chronograph crown, TAG Heuer launched an in-house manufactured movement, the Calibre 1887, in 2009. The integrated column-wheel automatic chronograph movement is a tribute to Edouard and Jack Heuer’s historic contributions to Swiss watchmaking: it is outfitted with an audaciously re-engineered version of the brand’s 1887-patented oscillating pinion; and it is housed in a new generation of the Carrera, the legendary sports chronograph first launched by Jack Heuer in 1964.
The innovative movement took five years and approximately 20 million Swiss Francs to develop. To produce it in the volume TAG Heuer’s accelerating growth requires, a dedicated workshop had to be constructed at TAG Heuer’s facilities in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The first Calibre 1887 rolled off the workshop’s semi-automatic assembly line in 2010, and won the  “Petite Aiguile d’Or” Award at that year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. To date, 130,000 have been produced.


Now TAG Heuer is industrializing a second in-house manufacture movement, thus doubling its movement manufacturing capacity and making it the number one chronograph movement manufacturer among watch brands in Switzerland. The new integrated mechanical movement is being produced at the just finished fourth TAG Heuer Manufacture in Chevenez in the Swiss Jura.  
Total expenditure for the new project: another 20 million Swiss Francs. Total volume: 500 in 2013, 5,000 in 2014.


Calibre 1969

The quality of the manufactured movement is the direct result of key lessons learned in the design and production of TAG Heuer’s Calibre 1887 and award-winning “haute horlogerie” movements. A benchmark of prestige chronograph design, the vertical-clutch system is powerful and precise: 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz), with an extended 70 hour power reserve and a difference of time adjustment after 24 hours of minus 4 to 6 seconds. The very thin movement (6.5mm) houses 200 Swiss components. The assortment is a Swiss ATOKALPA, as is the four-spoked balance, which is KIF auto-shock adjusted. The dial’s counter layout, like the original Calibre 11, is classic “tri-compax”: central chronograph hand with chronograph minutes at 3 o’clock, chronograph hour at 9 o’clock and small second at 6 o’clock. The caliber 1969 also features a date window at 9 o’clock. The decoration includes “Côte de Genève” and snailing on the black tungsten oscillating weight and the minute and automatic bridges, which are nickel plated and angle polished, with shiny beveled edges. The bridges, plates and ébauches are all produced at Chevenez.


By adding the Calibre 1887 and the Calibre 1969 to its manufacturing capacity, TAG Heuer’s growth and continued leadership in chronographs is fully assured. Production volume of the two innovative movement will surpass 50,000 units in 2013 and reach a projected target capacity of 100,000 by 2016. This makes TAG Heuer the biggest industrial chronograph producer among all Swiss watch brands, and one of the very few Swiss Manufactures capable of producing all of its own major components -- not just movements but dials and cases.