Jack Heuer
Currently Honorary Chairman of TAG Heuer, Jack Heuer has had a long and fruitful history with the company. In fact, vintage watch collectors believe the “Jack Heuer years”, from 1958 to 1982, were some of the most exciting and creative in the company’s history.
Born in 1932 in Bern, Switzerland, Jack William Edouard Heuer is the great grandson of Edouard Heuer, who founded the company in 1860. In 1958 a young Jack, engineering and management degrees in hand, joined his father and uncle in the family business.
A year later he expanded, starting the first Heuer sales subsidiary in the United States, the Heuer Time Corporation, which exists today as LVMH W & J USA. In 1962 he became majority shareholder of Ed. Heuer & Co. SA, leading it into a takeover of their largest competitor and its new incarnation as Heuer-Leonidas SA.
As managing director of Heuer-Leonidas he pushed for the development of the world’s first automatic chronograph, launched March 3rd, 1969. That same year saw the company become one of the first non-automotive sponsors of Formula 1, starting a long association with high-technology auto racing. In the 1970s this close relationship with Formula 1 continued with a technical partnership with Ferrari. Golden years – at this time Jack developed the habit of giving a gold TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph to the F1 drivers of Ferrari, with their name and blood group engraved on the back.
Because of his engineering background, Jack Heuer anticipated the electronic revolution and its impact on the world of watchmaking. He entered early into electronic timekeeping and helped launch several of the world’s first electronic timing instruments such as:
- The Microtimer (1966), a low cost portable timing instrument accurate to 1/1000th of a second
- The Microsplit 800 (1972), a handheld quartz stopwatch accurate to 1/100th of a second
- The Chronosplit (1975) first quartz chronograph measuring 1/100th of a second
- The ACIT (1976), an Automatic Car Identification and Timing System which put radio emitters on every Formula 1 car, enabling precise timing, lap counts and car identification. This system is basically the same one used today in Formula 1 timekeeping.
- The Chronosplit Manhattan (1977), an electronic wrist chronograph with analog reading of the time and digital reading of the stopwatch function.
Mr. Heuer left the Group in 1982 for a successful career in electronics with Hong Kong-based IDT International.
Over the decades Jack Heuer has stayed in contact with the management team of TAG Heuer, offering the benefit of his long experience in the watchmaking field. In 1999 the LVMH Group acquired TAG Heuer and in 2001 Mr. Heuer was appointed Honorary Chairman. He now plays a largely advisory role in the company, and was instrumental in the preparation of the 150th anniversary book “150 Years” as well as the “Mastering Time” publication. Jack Heuer is married and has three children, and six grandchildren. He lives in Bern, Switzerland.
Currently Honorary Chairman of TAG Heuer, Jack Heuer has had a long and fruitful history with the company. In fact, vintage watch collectors believe the “Jack Heuer years”, from 1958 to 1982, were some of the most exciting and creative in the company’s history.
The contemporary sports watch inspired by motor racing. TAG Heuer never rests on its laurels. In 1887, Edouard Heuer made history with the oscillating pinion. For our 150th anniversary, we have given it new life and re-engineered it in-house, to create the Calibre 1887. In 1964, Jack Heuer himself designed the Carrera series, in honor of the 'Carrera Panamericana Mexico', history's most grueling automobile endurance race.
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