The Mikrograph1/100th 1916

Making time for a new era

In 1916 TAG Heuer propelled timekeeping from a more leisurely era into the age of speed. They launched the Mikrograph, the first stopwatch able to measure 100ths of a second.

Everything was slower then: cars, planes, sports—time itself. But to inventors, scientists, and sportsmen alike, fractions of it were critical. Unable to measure them, they could not progress. The Mikrograph, whose oscillating wheel vibrated 6,000 times a minute, was set to change that.

By 1920 Europe was rebuilding, ready to face a new era. The latest technology would change people's lives for ever. Radio widened our horizons; mass-produced cars made us mobile. That year, the Antwerp Olympics brought the nations together in peace. The official timekeeper was TAG Heuer.

For the first time, the Olympic flag at Antwerp displayed the iconic circles, with their worldwide message of unity. For the first time the judges used a cutting-edge stopwatch. If Einstein changed for ever how we think of time, the Mikrograph revolutionized how we capture it.