Could this possibly be one of the most confusing watches of all time?

Well I wouldn’t go THAT far but the TAG Heuer Calibre S is definitely a little tricky to master!

It seems that this watch is a recurring theme when I ask around the office for blog inspiration. I am normally met with that look that is basically telling me “you know what we’re going to say Gabrielle…” and so after weeks of putting this off I have finally bucked under the pressure.

Oh pants….

Now for some reason this watch has always eluded us when it comes to that age old customer question “So how do you set it?” Even to the point that our General Manager has had to call TAG twice to explain it step by step!

Completely developed, patented and manufactured by TAG Heuer, the Calibre S has been considered a “total revolution in chronographs”. The in-house Calibre S movement was first introduced in 2004 and cleverly combines the most advanced quartz and mechanical technology; it displays watch and chronograph functions with the full sized central hands, and provides stunning 1/100^th of a second accuracy. Because of its highly technical design the movement contains over 250 different components; considering a standard quartz watch has only 30-40 components it is clear this watch is a real feat of engineering.

The watch comes equipped with a perpetual calendar and tachymeter scale on the fixed polished stainless steel bezel, a solid steel folding clasp, and double safety push-buttons. The iconic ‘S’ link bracelet finishes it off for an elegant and understated look.

With its classic textured dial with hand finished indexes, this 43mm watch has scratch resistant sapphire crystal and rhodium plated luminous minute and hour hands and markers. Two 160° dials measure split seconds or the date depending on the mode.

The benefits of having such technology are that the wearer gets all the functions that are normally reserved for high-price, exclusive watches that most of us can only dream about. The perpetual calendar and the 1/100^th second accurate chronograph are features that one would expect to come hand in hand with a huge price tag but not in this instance. The watch retails for £2350…

The watch is water resistant to 100m and comes beautifully presented with a two year manufacturer’s guarantee.

Now…how to set it?

The Link Calibre S operates in two modes:

1. TIME mode showing the time and date with a perpetual calendar until 2099.

2. CHRONO mode accurate to 1/100^th sec. With exceptional readability:

-          Simple and additional timing

-          Display of intermediate times

-          Two simultaneous timings.

Time Mode

The left and right counters jointly indicate the date.

The Calibre S has a perpetual calendar until 2099.

Chrono Mode

One press on the crown moves from Time mode to Chrono mode.

The measured time is indicated by the central hands (hours, minutes and seconds).

The left counter indicates 1/10^th of a second.

The right counter indicates 1/100^th of a second.

Hold down A and B buttons for about two seconds until you see the chrono reset to zero.

Now you can set the hour hand manually to zero by pressing the A button. To move on the minute hand press the B button; to set this manually to zero press the A button. Hit B to move to seconds and repeat if necessary.

Go back to Time mode again by pushing on the crown.

Resetting to Zero

One long press of the push-button B resets the hands to zero.

I must say that the staff are now all experts when it comes to this watch!