Important Watches, Pocket Watches and...

Noga Hilton Hotel, Nov 13, 2005

LOT 178

?Calibre 360 concept chronograph Prototype? Tag Heuer, "Calibre 360 chronograph", the world?s first mechanical wristwatch with 100th of a second diablotine. Produced in 2005 for the 2005 Basel Fair. Exceptional, self-winding, water-resistant, Grade 5 Titanium (Ti5) gentleman's wristwatch with two trains, round button chronograph, 1/100th second diablotine, 100 minute power reserve and 10 minute register in apertures, and Tag Heuer stainless steel deployant clasp. Prototype to be sold by Antiquorum for the benefit of the Geneva Musée de l'Horlogerie. Generously donated by Jean Christophe Babin, CEO of Tag Heurer.

CHF 20,000 - 30,000

EUR 13,000 - 20,000 / USD 16,000 - 23,000

Sold: CHF 23,000

C. Three-body, polished, glazed case back with 6 screws, sloped bezel, down-turned faceted lugs, sapphire crystals, chronograph pushers in the band the start stop pusher with red tip .D. Black applied steel Arabic five minute markers outer minute/fifth second divisions, applied central stainless steel panel with ?fausses cotes? decoration, 100th of a second diablotine and apertures for the hour and minute registers. Luminous steel "skeletonized" hands. M. Cal. 360, Rhodium plated, two train, tandem winding the chronograph train with monometallic balance (Vph 360,000) and micrometer regulator, the going train, self-winding with straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance-spring, micrometer regulator. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 41.5 mm. Thickness 17 mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade:
Case: 1

As new
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 1-01

As new

HANDS Original

Notes

The present lot is the watch which Tag Heuer used to launch this model at the Basel fair in 2005 as well as in all the advertising and press for this model. Tag Heuer and the Chronograph The name of Heuer and the brand Tag Heuer are intimately linked to the history of the chronograph. By 1860, Edouard Heuer, the founder of the modern-day Tag Heuer firm had begun directing his attention to sports watches in general, and to chronographs in particular. By 1880, he had initiated the series production of chronoscopes, which was to win him his reputation. In 1916, Heuer registered a patent for a chronograph mechanism with 50ths of a second; in 2005, Tag Heuer presented the first wrist chronograph measuring 100ths of a second. At the Athens Olympic Games of 1896, Thomas Burke won a gold medal for the USA, with a 1/5th of a second lead over Fritz Hofmann. This was a victory as well for Charles-Auguste Heuer, the son of Edouard Heuer, who founded his watchmaking workshop in Saint-Imier in 1860. It was clear by then that more accurate instruments would be necessary, capable of measuring smalkler intervals of time. Charles-Auguste Heuer set his watchmakers the goal of 1/10th of a second. By early 1916, the first prototypes were on his desk, featuring a tiny central hand that accomplished a full turn in just three seconds, also marking 1 and 2 seconds. From 1916 to 1969, the company produced the Mikrograph, measuring 1/100th of a second, and the SemiKrograph, measuring 1/50th of a second - at the time, the most accurate mechanical timekeeping instruments in the world. This allowed Heuer (by then Tag Heuer) to become the partner of the most prestigious sports events of the 20th century, from the Olympic Games to the Formula 1 and the America's Cup. Today, Tag Heuer, continues to set milestones in Swiss chronograph history, with its ?Calibre 360? Concept Chronograph. The ?Calibre 360? Concept Chronograph is the first mechanical wrist chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100th of a second, thanks to the exceptionally high frequency of its balance wheel, which oscillates at 360,000 beats per hour, 10 times faster than any other chronograph, a rate that until now was considered impossible. More than ever, with this quantum leap in mechanical watchmaking accuracy. The watch presented by Tag Heuer at the Basel fair of 2005, the very first Calibre 360, is being offered at auction by Antiquorum Geneva, to be sold for the benefit of the Geneva Musée de l'horlogerie. The Geneva Musée de l?Horlogerie The Geneva Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'émaillerie, housed in the Villa Bryn Bella, dating from approximately 1840, is currently underging renovations in view of its reopening, planned for 2009. A new section, devoted to temporary exhibitions, will be created at that time.