TAG Heuer Innovations with Guy Semon

KIH · 2011-06-25T22:41:17Z

Explore Guy Semon's innovations at TAG Heuer, including the Monaco V4 and Mikrogirder, from a Tokyo event. See insights on pushing horological limits.

KIH

WPS member · TAG Heuer forum

19 replies8359 views63 photos

KIH's report captures an exclusive TAG Heuer event in Tokyo, featuring a talk show with Guy Semon, VP of Science and Engineering. The article highlights Semon's pivotal role in TAG Heuer's innovations, including the Monaco V4 and Mikrogirder. KIH provides a comprehensive look at the event, from the Ginza boutique setting to the technical discussions, offering insights into the brand's commitment to pushing horological boundaries.

Hello all,

I had the pleasure to be invited to the event held by TAG Heuer in cooperation with Chronos Japan last week and saw a very interesting talk show between Mr. Hirota - watch journalist and THE man Mr. Guy Semon, VP of Science and Engineering of TAG Heuer, regarding what he has achieved since he joined TAG Heuer.

There are lots of photos and videos below, so please read on!

1. The Boutique
TAG Heuer already has three Boutiques in Japan and this one in Ginza is conveniently located in the "Watch Boutique Town" like other major brands.

Lots of TAG Heuer fanatics!

B1 has lots of Steve McQueen

And the second floor is where the session was held - basically racing related concept.

2. The Session
Mr. Semon and Mr. Hirota

'Mr. Guy Semon talks about the innovation of TAG Heuer'

Mr. Matsuzaki, CEO of Chronos Japan.

Shop Manager, Mr. Kuwabara

Now the show begins.
(note: I have provided caption above the photo where the English translation is not available on the sheet)

Hirota ("H"): Thank you for gathering. I write on the watch magazine, Chronos Japan, and today I would like to present a talk show with Mr. Guy Semon, who is called "Einstein of TAG Heuer". What has he done as the Head of R&D of TAG Heuer? He has done so far four (4) projects - Monaco V4, Pendulum, Mikcrograph, and Microtimer Flying 1000. I am sure it would be well worth coming here and see the WORKING PIECES of these four models. You all have time to handle them yourselves later.

Now for these four models, what did "Einstein of TAG Heuer" do? He made changes to the fundamental aspects of watchmaking in order to make these four models come true - (1) The Power Reserve, (2) The Power transmission from the barrel (main spring) to the pinion/gear train, and (3) The Regulation System - the heart of the watch, balance wheel, spiral hairspring, escapement. These three aspects of the watchmaking are all traditional and basics for a long time and not many people would like to change. That is what Mr. Semon did. Now let me start questioning you, Mr. Semon. I heard that you joined TAG Heuer from the field which has little to do with watchmaking. What were you doing before you came on board as the Head of R&D of TAG Heuer?

Guy Semon ("S"): I had been in the aircraft business for 20 years and designing airplanes, to be specific, fighter planes.

H: So, after 20 years in the fighter planes designing, what did you think you would do in the watch industry?

S: I did not expect to do something revolutionary here. At the end of the day, watches is worn by the end-users' wrists and the important factors for the watches are the accuracy and the strength/durability. That is what I thought I could help to improve with my experiences.

There are three big pillars in watchmaking as Mr. Hirota touched upon earlier - The power reserve, the power transmission, and the regulation. I understand that it is my mandate to improve each of the pillar and make watches which are in line with TAG Heuer philosophy and tradition.

H: And the first watch Mr. Semon made was this Monaco V4. The prototype was released in 2004. What is the major difference in this V4 from the conventional watches?

S: The conventional watches are, have been, using gear train, transmit the power from gear to gear for centuries. This watch was not designed by me. When it was announced, it was just the "Concept Design", designed by the team of several watchmakers including Mr. Philippe Dufour. The reason why I was called up was to make this concept design "work" in the real world with the exact design. Now, as you can see, the gears are not touching each other side-by-side in this watch. This is the "belt-drive" watch. This was a totally new approach to the watchmaking and I am glad outsider like myself joined back then, otherwise, I don't think this wonderful design would not have taken off as a product.

'Challenge for the power transmission'

'Comparison with the conventional mechanism - on the left is the conventional, on the right is Monaco V4'

H: What was/were most difficult challenge in this model?

S: I am a physicist and if I start explaining in details to you, it would take too long, so I will try to make it short. As you can see, the power transmission is done by the belt. This idea has never been implemented successfully before and I had to come up first with the new material to do the job. You may think that the belt is not so small in this presentation photo, but in reality it is as thin as your hair. And the length is 20mm, on which there are 400 notches or cogs - please imagine how small it is. TAG Heuer had intended to make this a regular model, NOT a concept model and that means that we had to make this watch durable enough for the users' daily use, and to withstand the shock of it. If we increase the tension of the belt, it would be good for less power loss but might break if it were to be subjected to the shock. If we make the belt too loose, it would withstand the shock, but might lose too much power before reaching the hands. We had to simulate the correct balance of the tension and other merits/demerits in the computer only. Also please note that TAG Heuer subjects ALL the watches to the test in the wide range of temperature, to be sold and used in the every corner of the world - from -20c to +60c - and that means the strength and stability of the metal within the watch. Monaco V4 has passed all the test. I want to let everybody know that TAG Heuer subject ALL the watches, from the entry level to the super complex ones, to the same toughness test. And I can guarantee you that this Monaco V4 will keep moving accurately even if I throw this down to the floor right here. I actually have done it many times to my own SS V4 which I have had for many years, but this one here is cased in gold and the watch inside would be quite fine but the case would be miserable, so I don't do it today.

'The world first in-line rotor (not the round rotor), Tungsten Ingot ups and downs to wind. V4=4 barrels are placed just like the V4 engine.'

'Merit for the belt drive - 1. freedom in design, 2. high transmission efficiency, 3. strong against the shock. Completely new material for the belt (Polyether Block Amide or PABA). 1. Two energy belt (0.5 x 0.15mm) - enforcing wire (0.07mm) is inside. Each connects to two barrels. 2. Three time-keepig bests (0.25 x 0.07mm)'

H: So, you have successfully completed the Monaco V4 project and the next one you faced was the challenge to the regulation mechanism (balance wheel, hairspring). Today, as you know, most of the mechanical watches work with the same principle as the pendulum clock, and the pendulum is replaced with balance wheel, hairspring, and escape wheel, anchor/pallet fork.... But there are at least four weak points in using the hairspring - (1) weak against the temperature change - the metal expands and shrinks by the temperature, (2) weak against the gravity - tourbillon is one of the trials to avoid it, (3) weak against the shocks - if subjected to the heavy shock, it would be normally damaged, and (4) it is very thin and not easy to manufacture. Hairspring is necessary in the watches, but there are these shortcomings. What did you do about this, Mr. Semon? Before he answers it, I want you to see this short video made by TAG Heuer. You will know what he did for this challenge.

(Note: from YouTube - but the same video was used at the session)

H: Now you see that this Pendulum has no hairspring at all - instead, what did you do, Mr. Semon?

S: As you see here on the presentation, I have placed MAGNETS in these RED and YELLOW parts. RED is S or +, YELLOW is N or -. It is just a simple difference between using the hardness of the hairspring and the using the repulsion of the magnetic power.

' Pendulum=Challenge to the Power regulation'

'No hairspring, but magnets work to revolve the balance wheel.'

H: I have one compelling question to ask - normally, it is a no-no to put the watch close to the magnet because that will make the watch crazy and I wonder why you decided to put magnet INSIDE the watch?

S: As a scientist, it is normal to live in the magnetic field. But in case of the watch, I know it is bad for the watches to put it close to magnet, but it is because hairspring is affected by the magnet. So, without hairspring, there is no parts in this watch to be affected by the magnetic field. The anchor, escape wheel and other surrounding parts are made of anti-magnetic materials as well.

H: Okay, then it begs the next question - without hairspring, how do you regulate this watch?

S: Although it is not on this presentation, there is another mechanism similar to the "regulator" in the conventional watch withing this module and in principle, this can be regulated by adjusting the distance of the repulsing magnets'

H: Okay, thank you very much. Now, with Monaco V4, you have met the challenge of "power transmission" within the watch, and with this Pendulum, you have met the challenge of "regulating" the watch. And the next, the third one, you met the challenge of "power" itself and "transmission". This Mikrograph was launched January this year. The second hand of the chronograph makes one round in one second aand it is very impressively fast. The concept is simple. TAG Heuer divided the inside, one being the watch module which runs at 28,800Hz with 40 hours power reserve, and another one being the chronograph module which runs at 360,000Hz with 90 minutes power reserve. Mr. Semon, if you would kindly offer any additional insight for this model, please.

S: The principle mechanism of the chronograph has not changed for the past several decades. But it is unavoidable that the usage of the torque by the watch module affects the chronograph accuracy - COSC, however, measures the accuracy of the chronograph watch with the chronograph turned off and issues the certificate. We think this is strange and wrong. TAG Heuer will issue our own certificate for the chronograph watches for the BOTH functions, watch and chronograph, and it may become the Switzerland standard one day.

'Mikrograph=Challenge to Torque/Power and Regulation'

'Watch module runs at 28,800Hz and 42 hours power reserve. Chronograph module runs at 360,000Hz and 90 minutes power reserve.'

H: But how did you achieve 360,000Hz? I mean, even the 36,000Hz, so called "high-beat" watches did have difficulty when it comes to oiling and friction inside. How did you solve this issue?

S: The "oil" issue exists for the low-beat watches, too. Any watches has had to fight with this issue. Since I came from the non-watch industry and my motto is "if there is a problem , get rid of the source of the problem.". So, in short, I decided NOT to use oil in this mechanism. In theory, the faster the beat, the shorter the duration the parts touch each other and with the "special" material for two parts, there is no need for oil.

H: And that made you even further the path of the chronograph. This Mikrograph was launched in January this year, and in March, two months later, the Micrometer Flying 1000 was announced. The chronograph module runs at 3,600,000Hz.

S: To be exact, 59 days to increase the frequency 10 times... But we had spent 2 years to come up with the solution for 360,000Hz and it was not that hard to improve from 360,000 to 3,600,000.

H: Now please see this video for this step further.

(from YouTube - but the same video was used at the session)

H: How were you able to increase the frequency 10 times?

S: To make it faster, we have to make the parts lighter and smaller. Hairspring is smaller, thicker, thus harder and made the frequency higher. And this does not have the balance wheel. Lighter the better.

'Microtimer Flying 1000: The World's First 1/1000sec Chronograph Wrist Watch"

H: This may be a stupid question, but do we really need 1/1000 chronograph?

S: Hahaha. F1 machine moves 11cm in 1/1000sec and for the time measurement, 1/1000sec is required for F1 racing. Also, in my previous career, the fighter plane moves 11m in 1/1000sec and that is very long time for such a machine. And even in the nature, you would need extremely high speed shutter to capture the wings of the bees. TAG Heuer has been used as an official timer for F1 and 1/1000 is the "must" and we developed this for that purpose.

H: But for now, the power reserve of the chronograph module is just 150 seconds, which is 2 minutes 30 seconds. It doesn't sound long enough.

S: Before going into the power reserve, let me speak about the accuracy of the watch. Like I mentioned before, TAG Heuer will start issuing COSC equivalent certificate for the chronograph and has patent. Therefore, this model is going to become the standard for 1/1000 chronograph. Now the power reserve. Of course it is not too hard to make it longer. When this becomes the regular model, the power reserve will be long enough for the users' normal usage - which is now analyzed and yet to be determined.

H: Thank you very much. Last point I want to ask - many brands announces the "concept watch", but most cases they do not actually issue them as their regular model, but TAG Heuer does make them its regular line-up. why?

S: TAG Heuer is the watch brand and we make watch to make clients or collectors happy wearing our products on their wrists. We do not just make watches just to show off and put them back to the shelf. We make watches that are going to be available for everybody.

H: Thank you very much for joining us today.

3. Now, the photos and videos for those Super 4. Enjoy!

Monaco V4

The belt drive is visible from the front.

The center is the Tungsten Ingot which goes up and down when you wear to wind the main spring in the four barrels placed like the V4 engine.

Pendulum

Mikrograph

The chrono second hand is fast, but still visible. Wait until you see the next one.

Micrometer Flying 1000

Were you able to see the movement of the chrono hand? It was just "wow".

Thank you for reading.

Ken

Special thanks to:
TAG Heuer - Mr. Guy Semon (VP, Science & Engineering), Ms. Francoise Bezzola (VP, Communication)
TAG Heuer Japan - Mr. Antoine Pin (General Manager for Japan), Mr. Hiroyuki Ohashi (Executive Officer, VP Marketing Communication), Ms. Takako Konashi (Manager, PR and Advertisement)
TAG Heuer Ginza Boutique - Mr. Yasuhiro Kuwabara (Shop Manager)
Chronos Japan - Mr. Matsuzaki (CEO), Mr. Hirota (Watch journalist and the contributing writer)

This message has been edited by KIH on 2011-06-27 21:35:25 This message has been edited by MTF on 2011-06-29 09:02:08

Key Points from the Discussion

The report's technical explanations and charts were easily understood, showcasing TAG Heuer's innovation and commitment to bringing advanced watches to market, despite not being a chronograph fanatic.
TAG Heuer's ultra-technical chronographs, while representing the opposite of a 'handmade feeling,' are appreciated for their fun and cool factor, even if not a personal acquisition priority.
The article's comprehensive depth and rigor are a hallmark of the site, providing detailed information unmatched elsewhere.
The pursuit of technological advancement and pushing engineering limits is valued, regardless of practical utility.
The Tokyo boutique is significantly larger than the Paris equivalent, highlighting regional differences in brand presence.
The Monaco V4 is recognized as a significant piece of work, reflecting TAG Heuer's innovative spirit.

The Discussion

SJX

Jun 25, 2011

Very informative; TAG Heuer is doing interesting things. - SJX

Davo

Jun 26, 2011

Looks like a fun event and some interesting new models out. I've been meaning to check out that Monaco V4. Quite a piece of work I must say. Thanks for posting.

Ginger

Jun 26, 2011

Such a complete report, and some technical explanations and charts fairly easily understood. You, as always, have shared great and detailed information with the forum. I am not a chronograph fanatic - My El Primeros ordinarily satisfy my need for hi frequency chronoa. But this is really tempting. i admire Tag Heuer for its innovation and its commitment to bringing these watches to market. Ginger

foversta

Jun 26, 2011

The Tokyo Boutique is much larger than the Paris one which looks like a phone box. Fx

VMM

Jun 26, 2011

Very interesting. It's nice to see all the achievements from TAG Heuer, and almost all of them working properly. Thanks for sharing. Vte

Mark in Paris

Jun 26, 2011

I love technology and when people try to go further in ingineering. It is not a problem of "will you use it" but rather "are you able to push the limits further". Thanks Ken Best, Mark

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