The most accurate mechanical timepiece ever crafted

What is most extraordinary about the “Calibre 360” movement is that the chronograph function is not just a "module" added on to the automatic watch movement.

With its barrel, separate manual winding system, gearwheel and the independent balance wheel and spiral mechanism, it is a genuine and wholly separate movement, a chronograph with a power-reserve counter and a quick-rotating barrel that offers 100 minutes of power reserve, plus its most remarkable component: a single-pallet escapement wheel and special balance wheel. The high-precision mechanism, specially created and hand-assembled, provides an unbelievable oscillating frequency of 360,000 vibrations per hour. With such a high-powered system, the “Calibre 360” creates a new milestone in Swiss watchmaking history. The quantum leap to 360,000 vibrations per hour from usually 28,800 or 36,000 could be compared to a Formula 1 engine jumping from 18,000 rpm to 180,000 rpm !

As the “Calibre 360” is a worldwide first in the history of watchmaking, TAG Heuer has filed for two exclusive worldwide patents :

The first patent protects the 1/100th of a second counter on a mechanical wrist chronograph.

The second patent protects the unique crown control system. The single crown winds both movements and controls the watch’s hour and date settings. A clockwise rotation loads the barrel on the manual chronograph movement; a counter-clockwise rotation rewinds the automatic movement that gives the time.

As usual, TAG Heuer's designers, stimulated by the input of watch collector and star Formula 1 driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, have created an exceptionally daring timepiece to house the “Calibre 360” movement. This masterpiece is easily recognizable thanks to its unique and exceptional architecture: like a pure high-tech engine, the chronograph functions are displayed through the wrought Côtes-de-Genève “chronograph engine”, which contrasts with the flat-black dial.

At 6 o'clock, an oversized circular fine-brushed counter keeps track of the 1/100ths-of-a-second red hand, while at 9 o'clock, a red minute needle directly integrated into the “chronograph engine” displays the elapsed time on a 9 minutes scale disk, particularly adapted for the car-race timekeeping. At 12 o'clock, the wearer can see the power-reserve indicator of 100 minutes, displayed in the same way as the fuel indicator of car’s dashboards, through the “chronograph engine's” angled polished opening. The result is a look as radicallyinspired by car racing as the high-tech technology housed inside it.

Designed to accentuate the Calibre 360’s exceptional movement, the case has been crafted from titanium Grade 5, an exclusive TAG Heuer material developed with McLaren in 1997 for the Kirium series, and combining utmost resistance with utmost lightness as well as sparkling polish effect. It’s a pure TAG Heuer case with oversized crown and asymmetrical pushbuttons, the larger of which, at two o’clock and capped bright red, controls the stopwatch.

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