HODINKEE Podcasts The Business of Watches [004] Tag Heuer CEO Antoine Pin On Carbon Hairspring Setbacks, Pricing, Tariffs, And Formula One
Oct 15, 2025
Antoine Pin, CEO of TAG Heuer, shares insights on the brand's exciting new decade-long partnership with Formula 1. He discusses challenges such as tariff impacts and rising costs in the watch industry. Pin also dives into the evolution of TAG Heuer's carbon hairspring technology, revealing how they overcame initial setbacks with a new version. The conversation touches on their strategic production choices and the balance between accessible pricing and high-horology artistry, showcasing the brand's innovative spirit amidst economic uncertainty.
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In-House Carbon Hairspring Breakthrough
- Tag Heuer developed and now fully produces its own carbon hairspring in-house as a strategic technical breakthrough.
- The carbon spring aims to match or surpass silicon in precision and resistance to magnetism and pressure.
Six-Year Fix To Humidity Problem
- The first carbon hairspring launch in 2019 had a humidity-related fragility that the team spent six years fixing.
- Pin framed the recovery as a human and technical story about the Tag Heuer lab refusing to give up.
Proprietary Micron-Level Coating
- Tag Heuer protects the carbon structure with an ultra-thin proprietary coating measured at micron and sub-micron precision.
- Antoine Pin declined to disclose the coating's nature, calling it proprietary technology developed and produced internally.