The following article was produced in partnership with TAG Heuer.
TAG Heuer is one of the most prolific watchmakers on the planet. The 163-year-old Swiss brand boasts one of the diverse model ranges in luxury watches – from the racy, square Monaco to the deep water-ready Aquaracer – and their back catalogue is similarly voluminous. TAG Heuer has come up with literally hundreds of different watch designs over the years, some proving to be more popular than others.
But none of their designs is as popular, enduring or iconic as the Carrera. Cooked up by Jack Heuer, the brand’s maverick CEO back in 1963, and named after the legendarily difficult Mexican rally, the Carrera Panamericana, the Carrera was inspired by the glamorous, high-octane spirit of the 60s – and quickly became TAG Heuer’s most popular model from the get-go, a status it maintains to this day.
Over the last six decades, the Carrera has taken many forms – it’s evolved with the times, while also remaining faithful to its original purpose and era. In 2023, to celebrate the Carrera’s 60th anniversary, TAG has just unveiled a brilliant retro-inspired update to the Carrera, which brings back its fan-favourite ‘glass box’ crystal design it rocked in the 70s.
But we thought we’d also take you through some of the most historically significant Carrera models of its 60-year-long history – to see how such a humble watch became such a horological icon.
Iconic Carrera models
1963: the original Carrera
First released in 1963 during his tenure as CEO and named for the famous Mexican Carrera Panamericana, the original Carrera ref. 2447 has a deceptively simple design. Like a high-performance car, form follows function: ultra-legible, with the chronograph pushers and sub-dials pride of place.
These earlier Carreras were utilitarian, hand-wound and featured 36mm cases: small by modern standards but totally normal, especially for men, in the 60s and 70s.
1970: the luxurious Carrera
This year saw the arrival of the first yellow gold automatic Carrera, the Heuer ref. 1158 CHN, which was then-CEO’s Jack Heuer’s personal favourite Carrera model. Jack, ever a canny salesman, was very fond of gifting these luxe Carreras to winning drivers, marking them out as must-have signals of success – a brilliant marketing strategy. Those early gold Carreras are highly sought after and are a real grail for collectors.
70s Carreras feature barrel-shaped cases with chunkier lugs, more inventive colour schemes and of course, the now-legendary Calibre 11 movement, which ranks as one of the first automatic chronograph movements in the world.
1996: the Carrera reborn
After being briefly discontinued in the aftermath of the quartz crisis, TAG Heuer brought the Carrera back in the 90s. These retro-inspired models featured ‘Heuer’ instead of ‘TAG Heuer’ logos (just as Carreras did before Techniques D’Avant Garde invested in Heuer back in the 80s) and were available with either hand-wound or automatic movements.
In the years since its revival, the Carrera has taken on many forms – some more modern than others – but all have kept faithful to the OG’s functionality and essential design codes.
2022: the ground-breaking Carrera
The Carrera has long been a canvas for TAG Heuer’s most innovative and high-end creations but the TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde, unveiled at Watches & Wonders last year, takes the cake for the most luxurious, ground-breaking and expensive TAG Heuer watch ever made.
Filled to the brim with diamonds, created and used in ways that have never been seen before in watchmaking, it’s an insanely innovative piece. A single-piece polycrystalline lab-grown diamond dial, a crown made out of a single lab-grown diamond, an aluminium case studded with more unique lab-grown diamonds, all housing an in-house tourbillon movement… This is one insane Carrera.
The Carrera today
This takes us to 2023, with the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Glassbox. This 39mm take on the Carrera formula is a bit of a hybrid: it melds 70s design elements, such as the aforementioned 70s-inspired ‘glass box’ crystal, with modern finishing techniques and a thoroughly modern movement, the TH20-00.
Available with either a blue dial with a 6 o’clock date window or a black dial with a 12 o’clock date window (or a blue dial, in-house tourbillon variant), the new Carrera Chronograph Glassbox is an exciting new chapter in the history of the Carrera which pays homage to Carreras of old while also continuing to forge its own legacy.
Read more about the new TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox here.
The three factors that made the Carrera an icon
We had the chance to chat with Nicholas Biebuyck, Heritage Director at TAG Heuer, who says there are three “major ingredients” that have made the Carrera such a beloved and historically significant design icon.
“When you look back to the first inceptions under the leadership of Jack in 1963, we see this incredible aesthetic which was revolutionary at the time: a minimalism inspired by the likes of Mies van der Rohe and the Bauhaus movement,” Nicholas explains.
“Beyond that, it’s the fact that it’s been this foundation for innovation. So we can see the use of the tension ring to increase water resistance, the addition of the date complication, the launch of the first globally commercially available automatic chronograph in 1969, the wild complications of the 2000s and 2010s… And today we have initiatives such as the Carrera Plasma which are really the cutting edge of technology.”
Nicholas Biebuyck, TAG Heuer Heritage Director
“The third element is this, what I call this anthropological connection to the humans: to the drivers and icons of culture who have worn the watch. And I think when you mix this three kind of core ingredients together, you get to what makes the Carrera so special.”
Find out more about the TAG Heuer Carrera’s history as well as shop the new 2023 Carrera Chronograph Glassbox at TAG Heuer’s online boutique here.