n alternative to metallic or silicon oscillators, the TH-Carbonspring oscillator was ten years in the making in the high-tech facilities of TAG Heuer. It took years of dedication, self-confidence and unwavering determination to transform the concept of a carbon oscillator into a fully functional reality. A turning point came in 2019, when a solution was brought to market. While it did not meet the brand’s precision standards, it identified the changes that needed to be made.

Carbon inside and out! For the first watches to carry the new TH-Carbonspring technology, TAG Heuer turned to its two most emblematic designs, the TAG Heuer Monaco and the TAG Heuer Carrera. Each has a case forged in carbon fibre. Both watches also feature bespoke carbon fibre detailing, most notably in their forged carbon dials decorated with a spiral that, like a hairspring, is snail-shaped rather than a perfect circle.

After thousands of hours of testing, the TAG Heuer LAB confirmed the technology was ready for industrialisation and could be put into production watches with, critically, the company’s assurances of a five-year warranty firmly intact. The TH-Carbonspring oscillator delivers three material benefits: it is resistant to magnetism, resistant to shocks and carbon has lightweight properties that reduce inertia in a hairspring, thereby increasing chronometric performance.

TAG Heuer Monaco Flyback Chronograph TH-Carbonspring

TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport TH-Carbonspring

As well as being developed in-house, the TH-Carbonspring is produced entirely in-house, leveraging the company’s multidisciplinary technical expertise and network of vertically integrated, industrialised Swiss manufacturing centres. TAG Heuer has filed four patent applications related to this technology. One of these has already been granted and the other three are pending at the time of publication.

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