Faithful to a tradition that started a decade ago with the Monaco V4, TAG Heuer unveiled the Carrera MikroPendulumS Concept Watch and the Carrera MikroPendulum.
For Tag Heuer, the 2013 edition of Baselworld proved to be pivotal for memorable reasons. It marked the last time Jean-Christophe Babin was at the helm of a brand he helped catapult into a higher echelon of the watchmaking scene since his arrival in 2000 – before moving on to assume a new role as Bvlgari CEO and naming Stéphane Linder as his successor. And then there were two spectacular watches among the elite ‘Talking Pieces’ unveiled at the world’s biggest watch trade fair.
Those two timepieces were proudly introduced by Jean-Christophe Babin in a crowded press conference that turned out to be highly symbolic, because both the Carrera MikroPendulumS Concept Watch and the Carrera MikroPendulum chronograph embody the technological route the brand has taken in the last decade under his guidance, especially since the launch of the first Concept Watch: the Monaco V4, in 2004. The charismatic Jean-Christophe always underlined that every TAG Heuer Concept Watch was launched with a view to subsequent regular production and one of the fundamental steps in achieving this purpose was the hiring of Guy Semon, the man who not only proved to be a problem-solver but also a visionary who dared to venture outside the conventional boundaries of traditional watchmaking.
Avant-Garde Haute Horlogerie Workshop
As TAG Heuer vice-president and head of the Research and Development department, Guy Semon has garnered a succession of accolades and world premieres. He solved the riddle posed by the transmission belts of the Monaco V4 and turned it into a commercial timepiece, leading an atelier of Avant-Garde Haute Horlogerie into the domains of magnetic fields and ultra-high frequency in search of ever more precise and reliable solutions. The line-up is impressive, especially since 2010: the Pendulum, the Mikrograph, the Mikrotimer Flying 1000, the Mikrogirder, the MikrotourbillonS – all timepieces among this century’s biggest breakthroughs in watchmaking. At Baselworld 2013, a double slam was added to the honour roll with the conceptualization of the first-ever double magnetic tourbillon and the commercialization of the first ever magnet-driven 1/100th of a second chronograph.
The 25-person atelier has successfully proved that it could master ultra-high frequency. With the two flagship models introduced at Baselworld 2103, it has also displayed its ability to solve problems associated with magnetism that most considered to be insurmountable, especially the issue of sensitivity to temperature differences that affect performance. Guy Semon’s team experimented with new magnetic atoms, metal alloys as well as carefully dimensioned and machined geometries in order to come up with an invisible, magnet-driven spiral that moves the balance wheel at a low amplitude and high frequency that ensure perfect accuracy and stability. The revolutionary magnetic oscillator’s performance comes close to matching traditional hairsprings of the highest quality; besides, it is much easier to manufacture and is impervious to shock, gravity and geometric deformations.
A platform of technological innovations
“This year’s Concept Watch is inspired by last year’s MikrotourbillonS that had a COSC-certified 4 Hz tourbillon to regulate the watch and a 50 Hz tourbillon for the chronograph function measuring 1/100ths of a second, the fastest and most precise in the world”, states Guy Semon. “Now imagine you rotate the movement 90 degrees in order to have the crown and pushers on top just like the Mikrogirder and both regulating systems – two tourbillons – on the lower side of the dial. But these two tourbillons are distinctive because they showcase the first hairspring-free regulating organs and are the first magnetic tourbillons in the world, with the one for the watch operating at 12 Hz and the other for the chronograph at 50 Hertz. There’s more: the case is made of a new chrome/cobalt alloy that is harder than grade 5 titanium, besides boasting a beautiful color and being bio-compatible – it is indeed a really precious metal since it’s precious to the human being”.
Besides putting the Monaco V4 on the market (more than 300 have been sold worldwide), Guy Semon was given a mission when he came aboard TAG Heuer from the aeronautic industry: “To create new chronographs. We perfected a new architecture – a dual-chain architecture, separating the chronograph from the watch and freeing it in order to use the frequency we want in accordance with the fraction of a second we are attempting to measure. There were already mechanical chronographs in the market measuring 1/10ths of a second; so I opted for 1/100ths of a second and the Mikrograph was ; followed by 1/1000ths of a second with the Mikrotimer at 200 Hz; and subsequently by 5/10,000ths with the Mikrogirder based on oscillating beams. Then we thought of combining the most incredible watchmaking complication, the tourbillon, with our high-frequency mastery – and the MikrotourbillonS was born last year. This year we came up with the MikroPendulumS and the MikroPendulum”.
Same case size, different architecture
The Carrera MikroPendulumS has a 45 mm bullhead chrome-cobalt case complete with titanium crown and push-buttons. It is teamed with a hand-sewn anthracite hi-tech soft touch integrated alligator strap. The magnetic tourbillons are visible from the front with solid pink gold bridges. All in all, 454 components and 75 jewels that include a 71-piece tourbillon for the watch operating at 86,400 vibrations per hour (12 Hz: three tourbillon rotations every minute) with a 24-hour power reserve and a tourbillon for the 1/100th of a second chronograph boasting 360,000 vibrations per hour (50 Hz: 12 tourbillon rotations every minute) with a 60-minute power reserve. The TAG Heuer Carrera MikroPendulumS is a TAG Heuer Carrera MikrotourbillonS with two magnetic Pendulums replacing the hairsprings, one for telling time and one for timekeeping.
The Carrera MikroPendulum has a 45mm titanium case with the Pendulum visible on the left side of the dial. Made of 371 components, it comprises a dual-chain platform with one balance wheel functioning at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz) for the watch with a 42-hour power reserve and a hairspring-free pendulum system working at 360,000 vibrations per hour (50 Hz) with a 90-minute power reserve for the chronograph. The crown rewinds the chronograph, whereas the watch is run on a classic COSC-certified automatic movement powered by an oscillating weight.
Guy Semon has confided that he has several dozens of projects in his drawer. After seeing the mastery achieved in the fields of high frequency and magnetism, we are naturally eager to see which is the next path TAG Heuer will follow – from now on with Stéphane Linder, considered to be ‘a product guy’, as the brand’s CEO.
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