TAG Heuer’s carbon breakthrough
TAG Heuer has revealed the first ever balance spring made from a carbon composite. It resides inside the chronometer-certified Heuer 02T calibre with a tourbillon regulator.
TAG Heuer demonstrates its watchmaking prowess with a truly amazing new timepiece representing the next generation of tourbillon watches. The manufacture movement of this new model features a carbon-composite hairspring, produced from a gas, that replaces the well-known Elinvar and silicon versions. The nanoscopic (one million times smaller than a millimetre) hexagonal pattern of the hairspring’s carbon-composite material is mirrored in the design of the Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph. Aside from the carbon-composite hairspring, the most distinguishing feature of this chronometer-certified chronograph is its multilayer dial and movement combination, which features sandblasted and fine-brushed hexagons on the movement plate visible through an open-worked dial. The pattern can also be seen on the oscillating mass, which has been treated with black PVD and is visible through the sapphire caseback.
A new generation of hairsprings
Known as the heart of the mechanical watch, the hairspring is the most difficult part to produce because its minute tolerances directly impact the overall precision of a timepiece. A team of TAG Heuer mathematicians, physicists and chemists are behind the creation of this newly reinvented hairspring. Not only does the carbon-composite hairspring shake up traditional watchmaking, it also improves the performance of watches fitted with the brand’s chronometer-certified movement. The Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph is the first watch to be regulated by this carbon-composite hairspring innovation.
Key benefits of TAG Heuer’s carbon-composite hairspring:
- The lightweight, low-density hairspring is virtually unaffected by gravity and shock.‒ Perfect concentric oscillations improve the precision of the watch.
- The hairspring is produced with the collet already attached.
- The hairspring is completely antimagnetic..
- Optimal thermal behaviour and aeroelasticity have been achieved by pairing the hairspring with an aluminium alloy balance wheel.
