TAG Heuer or technology at the extreme
To achieve a return rate of far less than 1%, the manufactory does not skimp on tests, putting its watches through real ordeals.
Jean-Christophe Babin directs one thousand staff and manufacturies at Marin, La Chaux-de-Fonds (photo) and Cornol.
TAG Heuer is without doubt the most innovative watch manufactory at the moment: At the last two Basel Exhibitions, its CEO Jean-Christophe Babin debuted technical innovations which, on both occasions, left both visitors and rivals stunned.
Achievements possible only with highly qualified in-house watchmakers, ingenious designers and an array of high-tech machines. Otherwise, it is inconceivable that such innovations could be kept secret for the three years it took to develop them. Especially since, after their public launch, the first prototypes were then completely revised and improved.
The famous “V4” movement, which revolutionised the 2004 Basel Exhibition with its belt-drive transmission systems and its four “V” shaped barrels, is, for example, in the process of being reworked to deal with all the problems encountered during tests to assess the reliability of the concept: belt drives were added, systems simplified. As resistance, reliability and precision are among the chief qualities of TAG Heuer, the brand cannot afford to place on the market models or mechanisms that have not undergone full testing. Especially since it deals generally in sports watches which are often subjected to enormous shocks, stresses, temperature variations, along with the ravages of sand, salt water or even perspiration.
Unveiled at Basel this year, the “Calibre 360” is the first mechanical chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100th of a second. Philippe Prêtre, a top-ranking watchmaker, is in the process of assembling his regulator which oscillates at 360,000 beats per hour for the fastest calibre. A delicate operation performed under the watchful eye of Jean-Christophe Babin.
No assembly-line work
In his workshops at La Chaux-de-Fonds and Cornol in Jura, at the company's headquarters in Marin or in subsidiaries throughout the world, Jean-Christophe Babin has developed an internal communications system which allows each of his 1,000 employees to get to know and respect one another. To the extent that ideas are shared regularly and each member of staff is able to give advice and thus constantly improve not only the movements or aesthetics of the watches but also the efficiency of the after-sales service or even the quality of the bracelets. Moreover, at TAG Heuer there is no such thing as assembly-line work: the watches are even assembled by small teams of four multitasking people (each able to replace his or her colleague) who are wholly responsible for the end product, thereby achieving greater efficiency whilst avoiding repetitive work.
All TAG Heuer watches are individually tested. Here, Nadia Ripamonti is testing for air and water tightness.
Philippe Roth, one of the CAD technicians, has been involved in the development of the “Calibre 360”.
Christian Guichard is a designer. He worked long and hard for months on the calibre “V4”, rethinking part of its workings. On the screen: The new location of certain belt drives.
Grégoire Renoux, project manager, has gathered together all the parts of the “V4” movement on this tray.
Tested to death
Quality and reliability are indeed the watchwords at TAG Heuer; a visit to the brand's different test laboratories is enough to be convinced of this. One of them tests each watch before it leaves the manufactury: precision, power reserve, air and water tightness. The other, dominated by mysterious machines, is nicknamed the “torture chamber”. This is where new models and random samples are abused, even tortured to death. The watches undergo tremendous stress, they are subjected to acids, salt water, sweat, extreme temperatures and pressures, their bracelets are twisted and stretched in every direction, whether made of metal or leather.
“It's thanks to these laboratories that our return rate is far lower than 1%,” explains Jean-Christophe Babin. “We cannot allow our reputation for leading edge technology and unfailing reliability to lapse. Especially since our customers, who are for the most part sports men and women, often expose our watches to extreme conditions.”
A piece of equipment, developed by TAG Heuer, allows individual testing of resistance to wear and tear of the “V4” belt drives.
The test laboratory also includes a machine, specially developed by TAG Heuer, which subjects the watches to considerable shock.
Part of the assembly workshop: each unit comprises four people who perform all the operations, resulting in less monotonous work, individual accountability and a guarantee of perfection.
Part of the milling workshop
The Cortech factory, at Cornol in Jura, is wholly owned by TAG Heuer where it
manufactures all the cases for its watches.
Cortech delivers the finished cases, including the glass, the back and the pushbuttons, which are tested for tightness before being sent to La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The stamping workshop comprising presses with a capacity of around 200 tonnes.
The polishing workshop
J.-C. P.
Tribune des Arts - No332 - Juin 2005