TAG Heuer Debuts New Carbon Hairspring, Looks to Find Innovative Edge Again

TAG Heuer has a sporadic history of mechanical innovation, which in recent years, includes watches like the Mikrogirder (which I wrote about back in 2012), the Grand Carrera Pendulum before it, and the Monaco V4. Each of these watches pushed forward conceptually in new and interesting ways (if impractical), and brought ideas to that table that I had hoped would make their way into the commercially viable ends of their product catalog, but alas, that never quite happened. For the past decade or so, the brand has settled into a comfort zone at the entry level of LVMH’s watch portfolio. That may be changing, however, thanks to an announcement of a carbon hairspring, the TH-Carbonspring, that’s being used in a Monaco and a Carrera straight away. How does this compare to their earlier innovations? Let’s take a look. 

Right off the bat, the TH-Carbonspring is a material innovation, not a structural redefinition of power regulation, or power transmission (such as the Monaco V4). A carbon hairspring is being proposed as something of an evolution from silicon, used in a lever escapement setting. Actually producing the TH-Carbonspring took TAG Heuer nine years of development, meaning its ideation came well within the transition period to brands normalizing the use of silicon. 

One question not really addressed by TAG Heuer, is why exactly they chose the route of carbon over silicon, and what benefits this material would have over the now well established (and quickly maturing) use of silicon. Instead, we’re given this rather contrarian justification: “The TAG Heuer LAB could have iterated on silicon hairspring technology. But the true avant- garde spirit demands a fresh approach.” 

TAG Heuer does list a trio of benefits realized by using a carbon hairspring: resistant to magnetism; resistant to shock; and finally, its lightweight nature reduces inertia, allowing for more stable timekeeping. A keen observer will recognize all three of these as benefits that silicon also brings to the table, though in fairness, carbon may do a better job at each. No data clarifying these traits is presented with the TH-Carbonspring, however, so we’ll have to wait for more adequate testing against other traditional hairsprings to bear that out. 

At this point it’s fair to wonder if they spent so much time wondering if they could, but never paused to ask if they should, as Ian Malcom would put it. Sure, a carbon hairspring sounds really cool, and if it gives us another option with similar properties to silicon then you could argue it’s a net benefit. And I take no umbrage at that. My only real gripe is that it’s no avant guard in the same way that what they were doing 15 and 20 years ago was. 

The irony in all this is that the current Movement Director for TAG Heuer is none other than Carole Forestier-Kasapi, who has been a part of some of the most impressive horological innovations of the past 25 years, including the Ulysse Nardin Freak, and the Cartier Astrocalendaire, among many other contributions. During her time at Ulysse Nardin, the Freak broke barriers in many ways, but one of them was for their early use of, you guessed it, silicon.

With all that said, the development and eventual production of a carbon hairspring is certainly impressive, and if they can find a way to get it into a broad range of their movements, thus making it available to a majority of their customer base, then I’d call it a win. The initial two watches to receive it, a Monaco Flyback Chronograph (CHF 17,000), and a Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport (CHF 40,000) represent a perfect showcase of the technology, and bring a monotone carbon aesthetic to these iconic designs that honestly goes pretty hard. They may not represent the kind of innovation I’d like to see from the brand, but they do offer a glimpse at an exciting development path. TAG Heuer