With a new Global CEO comes a new movement. TAG Heuer is once again breaking new ground in the automatic chronograph movements. TAG Heuer and the company’s new CEO, Stephane Linder, have introduced to the world a new totally in-house designed and produced chronograph movement that has been dubbed the Calibre CH 80 after having been formerly known as the Calibre 1969. The Calibre 1969 was a reference to their first automatic chronograph movement the Calibre 11. The Calibre 11 was revolutionary at its release and has become legendary in the ensuing years as the movement that drives TAG Heuer’s famous square chronograph the Monaco. The Monaco oozed coolness on the wrist of Steve McQueen, one of the coolest guys in movies in his time, as a race car driver in the 1971 movie Le Mans.
The Calibre 11 is not the only movement used in TAG Heuer chronographs, TAG actually uses the Calibre 1887 in most of their Chronograph models with the exception of the Monaco. The new Calibre CH 80 in comparison to the Calibre 1887 is slimmer, has fewer parts, and has a longer power reserve. All this adds up to a more efficient movement of the future. The design will allow for complication windows at the 3, 6, and 9 positions. The comparison of the Calibre 1969 to the Calibre 1887 ends there. That being so will make some TAG fans happy due to the Calibre 1887’s association to Seiko, although there is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to the 1887 and its connection to Seiko. Seiko does not make the 1887 for TAG Heuer, instead Tag licensed one of Seiko’s movements and modified it to better suit their needs and produced it in-house. Although I think the up-roar over the Seiko connection is over stated, and I think Seiko makes some strong movements.
Turning out this movement has also created the need for a new production facility. TAG’s new Facility located in Chevenez, Switzerland; in a region of Switzerland know as Jura. Production numbers of this movement are currently around 50,000 a year, with an eye towards ramping up production to 100,000 in a few years. This production facility, called d’Avent-Garde, is a modern and first-rate plant. Most parts are made on site and the technology used, and space available will allow for quick changes and expansion in the future. Oil-less CNC machines are used to make most of the parts on site and then they are put together by Tag’s own watchmakers.
Durring Baselworld 2014 it was announced that the first model to use this new movement would be the sleek looking Carrera collection. I would think that in the future, when production gets up to speed, that the Carrera collection would cease to be the only watch collection to use the CH 80. There is also hope that this movement will come at a good price and when the Carrera CH 80 was introduced it came with a price tag of $5500.