The Carrera at 60 lives on

TAG HEUER’S ICONIC CARRERA HAS been reworked and given a new lease of life just in time to mark its sixth decade in existence. For the occasion, four new models have been rolled out, ensuring that the legacy is assured for a long time.

Launched at Watches and Wonders 2023 in Geneva a fortnight ago, the new watches – the Timeless Carrera Chronograph, Carrera “Glass Box” Chronograph, Carrera “Glass Box” Chronograph Tourbillon and Carrera Date – are inspired by the beautiful and ageless style of the first Carrera model debuted in 1963.

In the years since its birth, the TAG Heuer Carrera has come to define performance watchmaking and appeared on the wrists of icons of cool, from rock star Mick Jagger, racing champion James Hunt to actor Ryan Gosling.

Its story began in 1962, in Florida at a car race timed by Heuer. There, the brand’s then CEO Jack Heuer, also its founder’s great grandson, was told of the Carrera Panamericana, a fast and dangerous Mexican road race in the 1950s; it lasted only five races before it was discontinued. 

Intrigued by the race’s speed, emotion and romance, Heuer decided that Carrera would make a good name for one of his new lines of chronographs. After all, “Carrera” could mean “race”, “career” or “path” – just the name for a watch with “a racing spirit aimed at a young, stylish, upwardly mobile generation in tune with the increasingly liberated tastes of the 1960s”.

The Heuer Carrera unveiled the following year was not only functional with a clean and legible design; it was also modern and innovative.

The new Timeless Carrera Chronograph (S$8,200) continues to perpetuate the classic form of the original. It has a 42mm steel round case with chronograph pump pushers; a  beautifully balanced dial with a clear 3-6-9 sub-dial layout; and precise, unfussy detailing.

Powered by an in-house automatic movement, the watch comes in a blue and black dial with sun-ray brushed finish. More striking is its detailing – particularly the punchy splashes of colour designed to make the watch easier to use and highlight its racing style.

The new Carrera “Glass Box” Chronograph (S$9,200) and Chronograph Tourbillon (S$33,950) will be welcomed especially by collectors keen on the new style of domed sapphire crystal on the case – the geometry of the crystal looking like the original plastic crystals of the Carrera chronographs in the 1960s. The sapphire is the “glass” and the dome forms the “box”.

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On the new models, the crystal has been redesigned so that the curve flows seamlessly over the tachymeter scale that runs around the dial edge and into the case.

Essentially, the new Carrera Chronograph (“glass box”), which comes in a blue and a black-and silver “reverse panda” dial, is a reworked and improved version of the existing model. The 39mm steel case, for instance, has been further refined to make the watch as comfortable to wear as possible. The watch is powered by an “evolved” version of the in-house automatic movement, which TAG Heuer’s new movements director Carole Forestier has tweaked to enable a faster and more reliable winding of the watch.

The new chronograph tourbillon is TAG Heuer’s first “glass box” tourbillon – and the gravity-defying mechanism is housed in a smaller case than its earlier tourbillon pieces. While the chronograph tourbillon has the same design as the chronograph model, its dial is elevated by an aperture at 6 o’clock to reveal the tourbillon cage.

The existing Carrera Date (S$4,550) has also been reworked to give it a newly streamlined profile, a vibrant colour dial and an upgraded self-winding movement. Its 36mm steel case frames a dial in blue, pastel green, warm silver or pink.