Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, long known for its close association with sports timing technology, has announced a new in-house manufactured chronograph movement as part of its 150th anniversary celebration. The movement, which features a number of interesting technical details and operates via a traditional column wheel, carries the designation of Caliber 1887. This number is not random; it references the year in which the company–at that time known simply as Heuer–pioneered an oscillating pinion which would prove revolutionary to the construction of chronograph mechanisms in general.

According to a press statement from Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of TAG Heuer, the Caliber 1887 and its process of conceptualization to production has been a project nearly four years in the making. Along the way, over 20 million Swiss Francs have been spent, with 45 employment positions created across the brand’s various manufacturing facilities. The bridges, mainplate and other key movement parts are manufactured in TAG Heuer’s Cornol site by ultra-modern CNC machines. Complete movements are assembled in a dust-free environment in TAG Heuer’s newest manufacturing wing in La Chaux-de-Fonds, again using the benefits of the most modern technology to significantly automate the process. The resulting product promises to set an ideal balance between significant production levels, functional reliability, and superior horological quality.

The TAG Heuer Caliber 1887 chronograph movement is self-winding, and recharges its mainspring barrel via a distinctly skeletonized centrally mounted rotor; the design and decoration of this latter component echoes the dialwork of many of the latest models in TAG Heuer’s Carrera timepiece collection. Fully wound, the mechanism will drive the watch for 40-50 hours, the lower figure being applicable if the chronograph mechanism is allowed to run continuously. A bridge with distinctive cutaway sections reveals the most important and technically fascinating parts of the mechanism, including the distinctive double lever and a visually dominant blued column wheel which precisely controls the start, stop and return to zero sequences. The glucydur balance wheel pulsates to and fro 28,800 times per hour and features an eccentric adjustment screw that enables the TAG Heuer watchmakers to precisely adjust the rate average to a tolerance of -4/+4 seconds per day. Dimensionally, the Caliber 1887 movement stands 7.1mm in height and has a diameter of 29.3 millimeters.

TAG Heuer has emphasized that while the Caliber 1887 will enrich the current palette of TAG Heuer in-house movements, it won’t eliminate the brand’s use of proven calibers from other manufacturers, including Zenith, ETA, and Dubois-Depraz. The house is also forthright in pointing out that outside suppliers will play a small but important role in the makeup of the Caliber 1887 movement itself, most notably in such escapement components as the balance wheel and hairspring.

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