DESPITE THE ubiquity of the chronograph – there are scarcely any mainstream watch brands that do not produce at least one – there are surprisingly few companies with which it is synonymous. Breitling, primarily a maker of aviation chronographs, is one; Omega, selected by NASA in the ’60s to provide watches for astronauts on the Apollo missions, is another. Then there is Zenith, whose El Primero calibre is beloved by enthusiasts. A lifetime ago, you might have added Longines to the list, but not today. 

The last name on the roster is that of TAG Heuer. Collectors will debate which brand might have contributed most to the field of chronograph engineering or design, but it is hard to think of a watchmaker that depends more heavily than TAG on the charming idea that we need to be able to measure short increments of time at a moment’s notice. 

Naturally, its pedigree is built on the supply of stopwatches, wristwatches and – later – advanced timing equipment when mechanical solutions really were a necessity. Heuer was founded in 1860 and remained Heuer until it was acquired in 1985 by the technology and aviation investment group TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde); following the acquisition, it quickly became, for a period, the pre-eminent horological presence in Formula 1. 

Fourth generation managing director Jack Heuer had earlier seen the potential of recruiting drivers as ambassadors, and the rest is history: sponsoring Ferrari in the ’70s, teaming up with McLaren in the ’80s and becoming the sport’s official timekeeper in 1992, a role it ceded in 2003 before regaining in 2025 as the brand’s parent company, LVMH, signed a multi-billion dollar deal with F1 that brought TAG Heuer back to the timing gantry. 

On a technical level, TAG Heuer has developed some of the most interesting and important additions to chronograph watchmaking. It was among the first companies to crack the idea of an automatically wound chronograph in 1969 (which also saw the debut of the Monaco, to this day the only square-cased watch that really works as a sporty design). In the 2000s, it pioneered a host of groundbreaking ideas, including ultra high-frequency chronographs with magnets in their movements. Despite their fragility, they cemented the notion that no company was more committed to interesting, mechanically advanced chronographs. 

Would you not be surprised, then, to learn that, until 2024, TAG Heuer had never made a split-second chronograph, one of the most highly respected variations on the complication? Alternatively referred to as a ‘rattrapante’ (after the French word rattraper, meaning ‘to catch up’), a split-seconds chronograph can time additional intervals – or two events starting at the same time. The seconds hand will usually consist of two hands superimposed, which, at the press of a button, will separate, one pausing at the first measurement of elapsed time and the other continuing; a second press will cause the first to catch up instantly with the second. 

“Most people would have assumed that we would have done it, but no. When we launched the Monaco Rattrapante it was a true novelty,” says TAG Heuer’s heritage director Nicholas Biebuyck. This year, the split-seconds movement comes to the brand’s flagship Carrera range – another first, and, for some, perhaps the more significant moment. However, as Biebuyck points out, it was not as though the principle had never arisen in any form. “Of course, we have a great legacy in mechanical split-second chronograph pocket watches and timekeeping devices, but a commercially available mechanical split-second for the wrist never existed. We had a quartz split-second SEL, though, famously worn by Ayrton Senna.” 

As Biebuyck explains, in some ways this gap in Heuer history stems from the company taking its timekeeping duties too seriously. “If you’re actually going to do precision timekeeping, what you need is resolution and legibility. The way you achieve that is by making the dial large, simple as that.” In today’s market, that might not seem like such an obstacle. But watches of the ’60s rarely measured more than 40mm across – and the few split-seconds chronograph wristwatches that did exist tended to be much smaller, high-end models. “Back then, if you wanted to do serious timekeeping you used a 55, 60 or 65mm diameter stopwatch,” says Biebuyck. Only Rolex, with the reference 4113, and Universal Geneve, made split-seconds chronographs in a larger size; fewer than 100 Universals are thought to exist while the Rolex is exceptionally rare, with only 12 examples ever documented. 

The Carrera Split-Seconds that launched this January in Milan is less overtly avant-garde than its square-cased cousin, although its semi-transparent dial is a nod to its mechanical complexity. The ‘glassbox’ sapphire crystal is a match for the standard Carrera, while the shape of the titanium case is altered to accommodate the split-seconds pusher at nine o’clock. Biebuyck says that Heuer geeks may recognise traces of the ’ 60s split-seconds stopwatch reference 11.402 – a 65mm sports timer with a black anodised case and red notation – but that most customers will look at the 42mm watch and see “a totally bespoke design that feels contemporary”. 

Underneath that shadowy dial, the movement is a co-production with third-party specialist suppliers Vaucher (which makes movements for the likes of Richard Mille and Parmigiani Fleurier). Biebuyck says that although it starts from a relatively standard base, the calibre’s chronograph works are bespoke to TAG Heuer, and that each one receives 10 days’ hand-finishing. This goes some way towards explaining the price tag: 110,000 Swiss francs, not including taxes. Perhaps this is the most important thing to understand about the watch: unlike other Carreras that build on the standard chronograph, like the Chronosprint Porsche edition, the Split-Seconds exists on an entirely different plane. 

The term haute horlogerie – the industry-wide term for high-end watchmaking – means different things to different people, but one definition would be as a distinct separation from the kind of functional, sports-focused watchmaking exemplified by the likes of TAG Heuer. This, meaning the Carrera and Monaco Split-Seconds models, Biebuyck says, is the brand’s way of demonstrating how it can play at that level, and what’s notable is that while the price may contain an extra zero, TAG Heuer wants customers still to see them as potential daily wearers. The Carrera Split-Seconds is not a limited edition – a few dozen will be produced every year. And Biebuyck emphasises the amount of work that went into making sure they’ll be fit for the pit lane, the paddock and even the after-party. 

“These are not one-off conceptual pieces that make a big impact at a trade fair,” he says. “This is a watch that’s fully tested, fully reliable and meets all of our expectations.” That includes a five-year warranty, a 65-hour power reserve and daily accuracy that exceeds a chronometer standard. “We want to know that our clients are going to be able to depend upon it in the way that they would any other watch.” When you think about it, that’s probably worth waiting all this time for.

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