Guy Semon, CEO of the LVMH watch division R&D lab, presents the Zenith Defy Lab, his passions and his definition of luxury.
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Guy Semon, inventor of the Zenith Defy Lab oscillator
A doctor in physics and engineering sciences, Guy Semon joined TAG Heuer in 2004, where he finalised the Monaco V4 project and then created and headed a research and development laboratory. He later became CEO of the LVMH Horlogerie R&D laboratory. In 2017, his oscillator replaced the balance and hairspring in the Zenith Defy Lab. Read our portrait and all our articles that mention him.
A mathematician by training and described by Passion Horlogère as a discreet man who long worked in the shadows for the success of others, Guy Semon first aimed for a career as a fighter pilot. He taught at the University of Franche-Comté before going into business, then collaborated in the 1990s on major scientific projects. Recruited by TAG Heuer in 2004, he was presented in 2016 and 2017 as the brand's General Manager, notably at the launch of the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 in San Francisco, alongside Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.
His watchmaking fame rests mainly on the oscillator built into the Zenith Defy Lab, unveiled on 14 September 2017 in Le Locle. Born from the work of Guy Semon and his team in LVMH's R&D department, this mechanism runs at 15 Hz and replaces the balance and hairspring pair, whose principle dates back to January 1675. It relies on the elasticity of the material: deformation becomes a property rather than a consequence, which makes its behaviour predictable. The material is insensitive to magnetism and temperature. The details of this invention are set out in the article TAG Heuer touche le graal de la précision mécanique, published in January 2018. The Defy Lab was then voted Passion Horlogère watch of the year 2017, and Guy Semon was among the people congratulated on that occasion.
He also guided innovation at TAG Heuer after that period. In January 2019, TAG Heuer presented the Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph, fitted with a carbon composite hairspring. Guy Semon, then CEO of the TAG Heuer Institute, saw it as a first step towards further improvements. The site still cites him in 2020 regarding this hairspring, considered insensitive to magnetism. Browse the articles below to follow his career and achievements in watchmaking.