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The TAG Heuer Mikrogirder has won this year’s Aiguille d’Or, the top prize at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix ceremonies, and the most coveted distinction in the global watch industry.

The Foundation annually organises the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix (GPHG), which is intended to salute the excellence of worldwide horological production and annually rewards the finest creations and the most important operators in the watchmaking sector.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic,” said Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer President and CEO.

“We’ve won our share of Grand Prix over the years but this is the first time we have been singled out as the best overall watch in all categories.”

With this 8th Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève award in just 11 years, TAG Heuer confirms its unrivalled mastery of extremely complex timepieces.

"We’re very proud of this achievement", said Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer President and CEO. "The Mikrogirder represents a new class of watch technology, nothing less than the complete re-invention of the mechanism that has driven mechanical watches for over 300 years."

A completely new system regulates the watch: instead of the spiral shape in a classical hairspring, it works with a coupling beam/girder and excitatory beam/girder system and a linear oscillator.

Conceived, developed and manufactured in-house in the company’s R&D lab in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, it is the fastest mechanical regulator ever crafted and tested.

"We are grateful to the jury for acknowledging this breakthrough", said Jean-Christophe Babin. "The Mikrogirder changes the way mechanical energy is generated, stored and regulated. It opens a promising new era in watchmaking, with potentially powerful and energy-sparing new movements precise to ever-smaller fractions of time. We're already well underway to fully exploring the possibilities."