Earlier this week I spoke with TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin about TH’s movement strategy- and in particular, what was going on with two of their most innovative movements- the Pendulum and the Mikrotimer.

The Pendulum was unveiled at Basel in March 2010, with the Mikrotimer following exactly a year later. Along with the V4 and the Mikrograph, the four movements are developed and hand-built by the haute horlogerie team at TAG Heuer.
Coming up with cool concepts is one thing, but TAG Heuer have a good record at turning these ideas …

It’s hard to remember a time when there has been so much focus on the movement that sits inside a watch- where it comes from, who designed it and who made it. It may sound strange to say that there was little focus on movements until around 2000- after all, they are not only an integral part of the watch, but are the actual components that deliver the primary function of a watch- keeping time.
I suspect that a big part of the reason was that by the 1990s no-one, putting …

Having bought you the first images of the Pendulum movement, we can now share with you the very first photos of the TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Pendulum and its secret- this watch does not have a hairspring to regulate the movement- instead, it uses magnets.
This explains why TAG Heuer have joined forces with Tesla, because Telsa is not only the name of a car company, but also the name of the units of magnetic force- so a nice tie-in.
The Pendulum concept started about four years ago and is still in concept form- expect it …

Three weeks ago Calibre 11 brought you the first image of the Pendulum movement- or at least the “pendulum” part of the movement.
Here for the first time is a sketch of the entire movement- you can see the elements shown in the last image just below  the TAG Heuer logo.
While this looks like the layout of a tourbillon, it is not a tourbillon movement- TAG Heuer have said that the new movement is as significant a revolution as the Monaco V4 movement.
I can imagine that whatever watch showcases the movement …

Further clues from TAG Heuer on the new Pendulum movement, with the announcement today of a partnership with US electric car maker Tesla.

The TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster will house the new TAG Heuer Pendulum movement in its centre console and will be used to launch the new movement at Basel on March 18.

With only three weeks to go until the Baselworld 2010 show opens, more details about what TAG Heuer will show are starting to emerge. The key piece of news is the name of the “new concept movement” that was detailed first in the Calibre 11 Baselworld Preview in late January. The new movement is called the TAG Heuer Pendulum.