TAG Heuer’s Latest Drop Takes the Carrera to New Heights
Since its creation by Jack Heuer in the 1960s, the TAG Heuer Carrera has been among the brand’s most popular watches, with countless variations dedicated to motorsports and several others made for competitive sailing. In recent years (and with the help of Ryan Gosling) the brand has doubled down on the Carrera, unveiling a host of new models from modern three-hand daily drivers to vintage-inspired chronographs to a string of collabs with Porsche. This month, a crop of new Carrera chronographs add another dimension to the collection with a selection of high-tech materials and a bold, modern new look inspired by high-performance racing engines.
The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport and TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport collection consists of six new 44mm chronographs that blend the hallmarks of the original Carrera design with materials like ceramic, forged carbon, and 18K 5N rose gold. All six feature skeletonized dials whose architecturally excised lines create a sporty look while offering a glimpse at their in-house automatic movements.
Four of the new models are chronographs in an array of colour and metal variations, and two are tourbillon chronographs. Each version offers a unique take on the Carrera’s new look, but all six are united by distinctive design elements like an open-worked date disc that’s reminiscent of the inside of a high-powered engine, a new integrated rubber strap inspired by the air intake systems of racing cars, and a generous dose of luminous SuperLuminova on the hour markers and hands.
For the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport, three models feature fine-brushed and sandblasted grade-2 titanium cases paired with sandblasted ceramic bezels, and the fourth ups the ante with the addition of lugs, hands and other components in 18K 5N rose gold. The Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport in orange offers a rhodium-plated skeleton dial with black-grained details and orange accents on the lacquered central second hand, with a matching integrated orange rubber strap. Similarly, the blue and red editions feature a colour-matched flange on the rhodium-plated skeleton dial and a grade-5 titanium crown with a matching lacquered ring. A fourth version offers a monochromatic alternative with a black DLC-coated grade-2 titanium case, a black sandblasted ceramic bezel, and grey markings.
The two TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport models raise the Carrera to new heights by putting the brand’s in-house TH20-09 calibre, (an evolution of the Heuer 02 featuring a 65-hour power reserve and a new shield-shaped rotor) on prominent display. While not the first tourbillon models in the Carrera stable, these stand out thanks to their avant-garde dials and palette of top-shelf materials including a version with a case made from 18K 5N rose gold. Similar to this year’s impressive new TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph and two other subsequently-released Monaco models with skeletonized dials, the newest Carrera models embody a new look for TAG Heuer that isn’t just limited to the physical world. The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph and Tourbillon Extreme Sport are now also available in digital form as watch faces for the TAG Heuer Connected one.