History of TAG Heuer Watches

The great grandson of the founder of TAG Watches is Jack Heuer and is the Honorary Chairman of modern day TAG Heuer Watches Company.

TAG Heuer is based in Neucharel in Switzerland and is managed by the president and CEO John-Christophe Babin. The TAG Watches Company has a watch making workshop in Cornol, and a full factory in La Chaux-de Fonds both in Switzerland.

TAG Watches can trace their history back to 1860 where they patented their first chronograph in 1882. They also patented the oscillating pinion that is still used by major watch makers of mechanical chronographs.

In 1911 they received a patent for the “time of Trip” the very first dashboard chronograph, designed for use in automobiles and aircraft. Air small pair of hands mounted at the top of the main dial shows the duration of the trip.

TAG watches introduced their first chronograph in 1914 where the crown was at the 12 o’clock position. This wrist chronograph was adapted from the well-known pocket chronographs. In 1916 TAG Heuer released the first accurate stopwatch that was accurate to 1/100 of a second.

Throughout the 30s,40s and 50s TAG watches continued to innovate and grow and into the 60s the TAG watches became very popular with automobile racer both professional and amateur alike. TAG became a leading manufacturer of stop watches and timing equipment, it was inevitable that drivers, sponsors and crews began to wear TAG Heuer watches and chronographs.

The Company TAG Heuer was formed and announced in 1985 and continued to grow up to the present day and the link to car racing still persists.