In honor of the 60th anniversary of TAG Heuer Carrera, new fake watches for several different Carrera lines were released at the Geneva Watches & Wonders fair. The classic series Carrera Chronograph got a huge scope with three different watches. Glassbox is a completely new-looking Carrera in design, Timeless, on the other hand, is full-blooded vintage, and Tourbillon, as its name suggests, dignifies the Carrera collection to the highest level of watchmaking.
Yesterday, at the Geneva Watches & Wonders fair, a lot of TAG Heuer Carrera 60th anniversary models were released, which will take a while to report. Let’s start with the three new items in the Carrera Chronograph collection, Glassbox, Timeless and Tourbillon.
Glassbox’s idea is sapphire
The first to mention is the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Glassbox, which, despite its new appearance, is a full-blooded Carrera. A clear-numbered chronograph that has taken its central style from the strongly domed glass of the original Carrera. What was acrylic 60 years ago is now sapphire, which also covers the bezel containing the tachometer.
The nature of the fixing ring with a seconds track, typical of the Carrera, has also changed, as it is curved and now the sapphire glass of the ‘boxed’ model replaces the bezel typical of the Carrera. TAG Heuer calls the solution Glassbox. The diameter of the Glassbox is only 39 millimeters and it is on the slimmer end of the Carrera.
It remains to be seen how the reform will be received. At first glance, the watch can be recognized by its small dials as a Carrera, but at the same time, the watch also resembles something completely different. However, the whole looks modern and dynamic. The Carrera Chronograph Glassbox is available in both blue and black.
The movement of the watch is the newly introduced caliber TH20-00, an automatic chronograph based on a column-barrel solution, with a running frequency of 4Hz and a power reserve of 80 hours. It is considered an update to the HEUER 02 movement, but the movement fanatics could not yet tell what has been updated to the already great movement.
Timeless represents the speed of motorsport in a retro shell
The new model named Timeless is a pure-blooded vintage model that draws from the original Carrera of the 60s both in the composition of the small plates and the pointers and coloring borrowed from racing car dashboards.
These 42 millimeter purebred motorsport watches are still luxurious and cutting-edge at the same time. Timeless is also available in blue and black. The contrasts of blue, black and red-orange bring to mind the intense rhythm of motor racing and the explosive adrenaline storm caused by the start, when dozens of engines roar onto the track with the first movement of the second hand.
The Carrera Chronograph Timeless also has a glassbox glass, which, however, does not hang over the bezel, but in retro style leaves the bezel visible. At the core of the watch is a Heuer 02 caliber chrono mechanism with a power reserve of 80 hours. The case of the watch is 42 mm in size and is retro and modern at the same time.
The tourbillon elevates the Carrera to watch royalty.
The Carrera is now also available in the elite class of movements with a tourbillon solution. In the past, a watchmaker’s ability to manufacture a tourbillon mechanism was considered a barrier to moving into the Haute horlogerie category. Nowadays, more is needed, but to ennoble an iconic watch collection like the Carrera, the tourbillon model is perfect.
The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon resembles the Glassbox in its body, but its details are more minimal and in the center is a slowly rotating tourbillon cage placed at six o’clock. A chronograph with a tourbillon solution is rare, there is a reason why a visible space has been left in the opened window at six o’clock.
The watch has a diameter of 42 millimeters and is at home in its size category. The watch’s in-house TH20-09 tourbillon mechanism requires a little more space, so the size is also understandable, although the watch doesn’t feel too big anyway. The operating reserve of the machine is 65 hours and the operating frequency is 4Hz.
The watch’s luxurious finish crowns this gem of the Carrera collection. The circle-brushed surface of the dial does not take attention away from the essentials, and the gray bevels of the small dials are a restrained deviation that brings liveliness to the watch. The orange details of the dial’s blue and orange hands and the seconds track raise strong contrasts that are familiar from TAG Heuer’s color scheme and take the imagination straight to Monaco and along the track.
Carrera Chronograph is now a deep and wide collection
With these new models, the Carrera collection, which has spread in all directions over the years, has taken a new, more strictly limited direction. Glassbox, Timeless and Tourbillon bring fascinating new dynamics to the iconic collection, and on the other hand, with the tourbillon mechanism, only the sky is the limit for Carrera’s horological capabilities to challenge any Haute horlogerie house.