AG Heuer brought an “annex” of its La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacturing plant to Geneva Watch Days, where it presented the TH-Carbonspring: a carbon balance spring that was conceptualised, developed and produced in-house at the TAG Heuer LAB (ex-Institute).

Research into this groundbreaking oscillator began a decade ago and an initial solution was launched in 2019, but by the brand’s own admission, it lacked the necessary long-term stability. This “trial run” did, nonetheless, highlight key issues to be ironed out. Now, after several thousand hours of testing, the TH-Carbonspring is ready for serial production and is covered by a five-year warranty. It is, to quote CEO Antoine Pin, an “epic and heroic” achievement.

Antoine Pin, CEO of TAG Heuer

As the brand explained, carbon’s advantages include amagnetism, shock-resistance and low inertia for improved chronometric performance and stability. TAG Heuer has filed five patents (one approved, four pending) for this technology which, importantly, offers an alternative to silicon, which is still covered by patents.

The first two models to be equipped with this TH-Carbonspring are the TAG Heuer Monaco Flyback Chronograph TH-Carbonspring and the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport TH-Carbonspring.

The first two models to be equipped with this TH-Carbonspring are the TAG Heuer Monaco Flyback Chronograph TH-Carbonspring and the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport TH-Carbonspring.

The brand presented another new release in Geneva that completely changes the face of the moon-phase complication. Powered by the new Calibre 7 with a 50-hour power reserve, the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer displays seven lunar phases on a rotating disc that advances nightly.

Powered by the new Calibre 7 with a 50-hour power reserve, the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer reinvents the moon phase display with its rotating disc at 6 o’clock showing the seven phases of the moon. The case back reveals an astronomical observatory, celebrating the cosmic inspiration behind the collection.

Then at Dubai Watch Week, TAG Heuer also made a lasting impression with a new additive titanium growth technique featured on the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1. Its ultra-lightweight grade 5 titanium case was created using cutting-edge technology called Selective Laser Melting (SLM), a manufacturing process often used in the aerospace, medical and automotive industries to create precise components with complex geometries. TAG Heuer LAB has adapted SLM for watchmaking, enabling it to design and offer a three-dimensional shape reminiscent of the aerodynamic lines of contemporary supercars.

After the gigantic marketing coup of the partnership with Formula 1^®, announced in January, this latest sequence can be read as a demonstration of the brand’s technical clout. Or confirmation that behind the profile-boosting publicity of the Formula 1® deal, the brand isn’t forgetting its core identity as a watchmaker. Read on for Europa Star’s interview with Antoine Pin.

Europa Star: You like to say TAG Heuer “runs on dopamine.” What do you mean?

Antoine Pin: We accept that innovation is about failure and success, trial and error. It’s what motivates us. The TH-Carbonspring is the perfect example. Ten years of research and a turning point in 2019 that wasn’t yet at the level we wanted, but did show where changes had to be made. It took a major push to get us to the point where we have a stable technology, ready for industrial production and with a five-year warranty. That’s the energy we want: one door closes and another opens. The only way is forward!

What does the TH-Carbonspring bring in practical terms?

Three material and measurable benefits: resistance to everyday magnetic fields, shock-resistance and low mass, hence low inertia, which improves chronometric stability. We developed everything in-house, from the concept all the way through to production. We’ve filed four patents and one has already been approved. This isn’t a one-shot; it’s a platform that will feed into our collections over time.

You’re debuting the TH-Carbonspring in the TAG Heuer Monaco Flyback and the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport. What are their main features?

Both models deploy carbon on the inside, with the TH-Carbonspring, and on the outside, with forged carbon cases and forged carbon dials whose “snail” pattern mirrors the oscillator’s spiral shape. It’s completely coherent. The TAG Heuer Monaco Flyback Chronograph TH-Carbonspring measures 39mm in diameter and is equipped with the COSC-certified TH20-60 calibre which provides 80 hours of power reserve. The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport TH-Carbonspring measures 44mm, also has a carbon bezel and is fitted with the TH20-61 COSC calibre. Production of both these watches is limited to 50 pieces. This is our way of channelling this new technology, without aesthetic or functional compromise.

This probably wasn’t the plan a decade ago, but the launch coincides with the 350th anniversary of Christiaan Huygens’ invention [see issue 4/25on the Great Masters of Watchmaking].

Huygens, in 1675, defined the architecture of modern timekeeping with the balance and spring. 350 years later we aren’t actually “changing” his oscillator, we’re making it in a new material. We’re part of a continuous process. The TH-Carbonspring is the engineer’s answer to today’s environment: magnetism, shocks, durability, etc.

You’re also introducing the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer, with a novel moon-phase display.

It’s a different interpretation. The disc at 6 o’clock shows seven moon phases so that, instead of seeing a single phase at a time, you’re actually following the lunar cycle as it progresses. It’s still a poetic function with the advantage of being extremely legible.

Coming back to R&D, you’ve evolved from the TAG Heuer Institute to the TAG Heuer LAB. What does this signify?

TAG Heuer LAB is where we integrate competencies and R&D, whether that’s additive manufacturing, innovative materials, reimagined complications or connectivity. We’ve evolved from the Institute in order to strengthen applied research. Research laboratories and financial markets don’t run on the same time and we wanted to free researchers from material constraints, but nor are we an academic institution carrying out fundamental research. There has to be a close connection to the product.

Where does AI fit in?

AI is an accelerator, not a substitute for creativity. We use it in R&D, quality and simulations, and we’ve rolled out training for teams, but the human input behind every watch is non-negotiable. We might go faster thanks to AI but we decide on the direction.

Finally, at Dubai Watch Week, you unveiled the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1, with its unconventional titanium shape made possible by additive manufacturing – what potential does it open up?

This watch overturns our way of creating: with the Air 1, we didn’t ask the designer to adapt to the limitations of manufacturing – it was the technology that adapted to the design. Initially, this piece wasn’t even a watch: it was an imaginary car, an aerodynamic shape with volumes that were impossible to machine. Julien, our designer, started with this automotive ‘morphing’ without any watchmaking constraints. Creating this geometry would have been impossible using traditional machining techniques. So we made the opposite choice: not to change the design, but to change the technology.

This is where Selective Laser Melting (SLM) comes in. We used the same logic as for growing a diamond: a bed of grade 5 titanium powder, a scraper, and a laser that melts the shape dictated by the CAD design point by point. With each layer, the material grows. We even had to create internal pillars to support this architecture, a kind of ‘technological lace’. Only then did we move on to heat treatment, grain enlargement, machining and sandblasting, which reveal the hardness and structure of the material. The result is a piece whose complexity is almost organic – yet with unprecedented precision and repeatability.

The case combines titanium and 2N gold with extreme lightness: 85g in total, only 2g more than the all-titanium version. This clearly shows that additive manufacturing allows for a much more intelligent and sustainable use of precious materials. Everything is recycled, almost nothing is lost: it is a process with very little waste, which is in line with our thinking on sustainability. A watch only makes sense if it has a connection to the Earth, because Time is what connects each and every one of us to our Earth.

What is exciting is that in just one year we have gone from a prototype to full-scale watch manufacturing. This is the most difficult transition: transforming an experiment into a reliable, repeatable process that meets our standards. In watchmaking, no one had yet used this technology in such an advanced way to manufacture shaped cases. We are deeply convinced that this is the future.

We are entering an era where form will no longer be limited by manufacturing, and where designers will be able to design with boldness above all else. Our role, then, will be to invent the technology capable of making these forms a reality. With the Air 1, we have laid the foundation for this revolution. And this is only the beginning.