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Calibre11
路Last week I visited the old Minerva watch factory in Villaret. Today it's the haute horlogerie business of Montblanc, but Minerva were of course a very fine watch company in their own right.
In their museum they talk about some of their early work with Chronographs, and the fact that they developed the movement for Heuer's ground-breaking Mikrograph of 1916
The watches above are from the 1940s and so use a later movement developed by Valjoux...but the original movement was designed and supplied by Minerva, as specified by Heuer.
So, there is a link between TAG Heuer and Montblanc today, as strange as it may seem. I also visited Longines, who display several Heuer made timers and stopwatches in their museum with the Longines logo. They also have the F1 timing equipment, which they bought from Heuer in the late 1970s.
The brands may compete hard today, but the history shows a lot of cross-over points between brands and many examples of cooperation.
In their museum they talk about some of their early work with Chronographs, and the fact that they developed the movement for Heuer's ground-breaking Mikrograph of 1916
The watches above are from the 1940s and so use a later movement developed by Valjoux...but the original movement was designed and supplied by Minerva, as specified by Heuer.
So, there is a link between TAG Heuer and Montblanc today, as strange as it may seem. I also visited Longines, who display several Heuer made timers and stopwatches in their museum with the Longines logo. They also have the F1 timing equipment, which they bought from Heuer in the late 1970s.
The brands may compete hard today, but the history shows a lot of cross-over points between brands and many examples of cooperation.
