2012/11/20 - FLASHBACK - TAG Heuer the Mikrogirder Concept

 

“Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix

 

The TAG Heuer Mikrogirder has won this year’s Aiguille d’Or, the top prize at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix ceremonies, and the most coveted distinction in the global watch industry.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic,” said Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer President and CEO.

“We’ve won our share of Grand Prix over the years but this is the first time we have been singled out as the best overall watch in all categories.”
 
With this 8th Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève award in just 11 years, TAG Heuer confirms its unrivalled mastery of extremely complex timepieces.

"We’re very proud of this achievement", said Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer President and CEO. "The Mikrogirder represents a new class of watch technology, nothing less than the complete re-invention of the mechanism that has driven mechanical watches for over 300 years."

A completely new system regulates the watch: instead of the spiral shape in a classical hairspring, it works with a coupling beam/girder and excitatory beam/girder system and a linear oscillator. 

Conceived, developed and manufactured in-house in the company’s R&D lab in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, it is the fastest mechanical regulator ever crafted and tested."We are grateful to the jury for acknowledging this breakthrough", said Jean-Christophe Babin. "The Mikrogirder changes the way mechanical energy is generated, stored and regulated. It opens a promising new era in watchmaking, with potentially powerful and energy-sparing new movements precise to ever-smaller fractions of time. We're already well underway to fully exploring the possibilities."

 

FROM DESIGN TO PRECISION: TAG HEUER PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES OF PRECISION TECHNOLOGY

Pioneering the avant-garde requires imagination, boldly expressed.
Micro-blades instead of spirals.
Magnets instead of hairspings.
Belt-drives instead of geartrains.
Never because it is new. Always because it is better.
Faster, more precise, more reliable, more beautiful.
The quest for simplicity, not complexity.

By bringing engineers and watchmakers together to pursue the ultimate in chronograph precision, TAG Heuer’s Science & Engineering team has singlehandedly pushed watchmaking into a new golden age of technological innovation.

The accelerating curve of TAG Heuer “MIKRO” technology:
1,000Hz from 4 Hz in just 7 years

MIKROTIMER FLYING 1000
The world’s first-ever mechanical chronograph to measure and display the 1/1,000th of a second

In 2011, TAG Heuer launched the MIKROTIMER FLYING 1000, the world’s first 500hz mechanical chronograph. A revolutionary mechanical chronograph regulator without any balance wheel system and equipped with TAG Heuer’s two escapements “MIKRO” architecture, the Mikrotimer beats 3.6 million times per hour, making it 125 times faster than a standard Swiss chronograph. Its central chronograph hand completes a full rotation 10 times per second. Stunningly beautiful, with its black Titanium Carbide coated case with contrasting steel horns and the black ruthenium-treated movement inside.

The MIKROTIMER FLYING 1000 was voted the 2011 Swiss Sports Watch of the Year at the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève. The victory marked the 7th time in 10 years that TAG Heuer was singled out by the Geneva jury for its engineering and design prowess.

Building on this success, TAG Heuer has gone even further in the race for precision: if the 1000ths of a second is possible and more reliable, why not 10,000ths of second? All that is necessary is a faster-beating regulator. Thus was born in 2012 the MIKROGIRDER, accurate to 5/10,000th of a second, an accomplishment requiring nothing less than the complete reinvention of the regulator: exit spiral, enter micro-blades. Still in its prototype stage, this breakthrough innovation has mobilized the entire TAG Heuer Science & Engineering team, whose ultimate goal is to make this prodigy ever more reliable, so that, one day perhaps, it can become commercially viable.

 

 

 

 

Technical Specifications

MOVEMENT

• 339 COMPONENTS
  
• MOVEMENT DIMENSIONS
  
  • TOTAL DIAMETER: 35.8 mm (15 3/4’’’)
    
  • TOTAL HEIGHT: 7.96mm
    
• FREQUENCY
  
• WATCH
  
  • 28’800 VIBRATIONS PER HOUR/ 4 HERTZ
    
• CHRONOGRAPH
  
  • 1 LINEAR OSCILLATOR : 7’200’000 VIBRATIONS PER HOUR/ 1000 HERTZ
    
• 46 JEWELS
  
• POWER RESERVE
  
  • WATCH : 42 HOURS
    
  • CHRONOGRAPH: 3 MINUTES
    
• PROPERTIES OF DISPLAY
  
  • HOURS
    
  • MINUTES
    
  • CENTRAL HAND 5/10’000th OF A SECOND CHRONOGRAPH
    
  • 1/100TH OF A SECOND CHRONOGRAPH AT 3 O’CLOCK
    
  • CHRONOGRAPH SECOND AT 12 O’CLOCK
    
• MECHANICAL FEATURES
  
  • 5/10’000th OF A SECOND CHRONOGRAPH FUNCTION
    
  • 1 BALANCE WHEEL ON THE WATCH
    
  • 1 LINEAR OSCILLATOR ON THE CHRONOGRAPH
    
  • AUTOMATIC BI-DIRECTIONNAL REWINDING MOVEMENT

DIAL

• ANTHRACITE AND SILVER DIAL WITH 2 COUNTERS
  
  • 1/100TH OF A SECOND CHRONOGRAPH COUNTER AT 3 O’CLOCK
    
  • CHRONOGRAPH SECOND COUNTER AT 12 O’CLOCK
    
• 1 LINEAR OSCILLATOR VISIBLE FROM THE FRONT
  
• BLACK ARABIC NUMERALS AND BLUE HAND-APPLIED “10000” AT 12 O’CLOCK
  
• POLISHED HOUR AND MINUTE HANDS WITH LUMINESCENT MARKERS
  
• BLUE CENTRAL 5/10’000TH OF A SECOND CHRONOGRAPH HAND
  
• SOLID ROSE GOLD (18K 5N) CHRONOGRAPH HANDS (1/100TH OF A SECOND CHRONOGRAPH COUNTER AT 3 O’CLOCK AND CHRONOGRAPH SECOND AT 12 O’CLOCK)
  
• SOLID ROSE GOLD (18K 5N) HAND APPLIED TAG HEUER LOGO
  
• 5/10’000th SCALE ON THE SILVERFLANGE
  

CASE

• CASE DIAMETER: 45MM
  
• SPECIFIC STOP WATCH INSPIRED CASE CONSTRUCTED IN 2 PARTS
  
  • POLISHED AND FINE-BRUSHED BLACK TITANIUM CARBIDE COATED STEEL CASE
    
  • POLISHED , FINE-BRUSHED AND SANDBLASTED STEEL CAGE
    
• DOUBLE ANTIREFLECTIVE CURVED SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL
  
• BLACK TITANIUM CARBIDE COATED STEEL PUSH BUTTONS AT 11 & 1 O’CLOCK
  
• POLISHED STEEL CROWN OVERMOLDED WITH RUBBER AT 12 O’CLOCK
  
• BLACK TITANIUM CARBIDE COATED STEEL CURVED SAPPHIRE CASE BACK
  
• WATER-RESISTANCE: 50 METERS
  

STRAP

• HAND-SEWN ANTHRACITE HIGH-TECH SOFT TOUCH ALLIGATOR
  
• BLACK TITANIUM CARBIDE COATED STEEL FOLDING CLASP WITH TAG HEUER LOGO