The rumor states that LVMH's legal department more or less challenged their counterpart at Swatch Group.
LVMH wanted to speed up the process of contract renewal for the deliveries of Nivarox escapement sets.
But the Swatch Group lawyers outsmarted those of LVMH: they cut the sets deliveries to Tag Heuer, without striking a blow. Considering the suddenness of the announcement, TAG did not have time to develop its own Invar sets. Therefore, there were only two options: Asia or Silicon.
To compensate for the withdrawal of Nivarox, TAG once again called upon Seiko (and this after the caliber 1887) to get out of this tricky situation.
To address the problem, TAG could have developed homemade silicon;
but they chose to rely on Seiko, on the one hand because it was obviously simple from a logistical standpoint, and on the other hand because the image of silicon may have been deemed dangerous.
Actually, the crucial question raised by TAG's choice is this: what does a "region of origin" mean?
Is it the use of traditional technologies, implying the utilization of a plain alloy and lots of handwork, but made in Asia?
Or does it mean a totally normalized production with cutting-edge industrial processes, but made in Juras?