The new TAG Heuer Carrera Sport Chronograph 44mm collection, each fit with a Caliber Heuer 02 movement.
TAG Heuer continues to celebrate its 160th anniversary with the launch of fourCarrera Sport chronographs, all now updated with the watchmaker’s own Caliber Heuer 02 movement, which boasts an eighty-hour power reserve and a chronograph with a column wheel and a vertical clutch.
In addition to the technical upgrade, the new models also offer a newly beveled inner flange around the dial, shorter lugs than earlier Carrera designs and a 44mm case with alternating polished and fine-brushed finishes.Also new is the dial finish. The new watch dials glow with circular brushing in a choice of deep blue with a matching ceramic bezel, olive green with a stainless-steel bezel or one of two black-dialed models, each with a black ceramic bezel.
New dials
With the new models, TAG Heuer offers four more solid-dial options within the Carrera chronograph collection outfitted with the Caliber Heuer 02 movement, most of which currently power Carrera chronographs with open dials.
Within these newly finished dials TAG Heuer alters the layout of the three sub-dials, which here differ from those seen on existing Carrera chronographs that are fit with the Caliber 16 movement.
The hour counter for the chronograph (here at 9 o’clock) also differs from those existing Carrera chronographs with inclusion of the numerals 12, 4 and 8 to better balance the minute counter, which is now at 3 o’clock.
TAG Heuer also moves the date to 6 o’clock, which differs from existing Carrera chronographs that use the Caliber Heuer 02 movement, where the date is in the 4:30 position. Finally, wearers can expect a somewhat lighter Carrera chronograph thanks to the new, thinner H-shaped bracelet.
Rose gold accents
While all four new Carrera Sport chronographs are cased in steel, one black-dialed model offers rose gold accents. For this watch, TAG Heuer filled its black ceramic bezel with a fetching rose-gold-colored lacquer, and then matched it with an 18-karat gold crown and push buttons.
Also for this model, TAG Heuer fits a black PVD-coated brass rotor (visible through the sapphire crystal caseback) and then prints watch specifications on it using a rose gold printing process.
TAG Heuer launches this new Carrera Sport lineup this month following the launch of the TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Silver and the 160 Years Montreal Edition limited editions earlier this year.
The La-Chaux-de-Fonds based watchmaker is not done celebrating its 160th anniversary yet. TAG Heuer says it will unveil four more “core novelties” as well as two special editions before the end of the 2020 anniversary year.
Prices: $5,350 to $20,400 (with rose-gold accents).
TAG Heuer today introduces a second Carrera collector’s edition to mark the Swiss watchmaker’s 160th birthday.
The new TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition.
The TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition, the new limited edition of 1,000 watches, echoes the brand’s White Heuer Montreal from 1972, complete with that model’s colorful dial marked with then-novel yellow luminescence.
The eye-catching 39mm watch arrives about six months after TAG Heuer started this anniversary year by launching the equally fetching TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Silver Dial Limited Edition, which we discussed here.
TAG Heuer says that a now highly collectible White Heuer Montreal, reference 110503W from 1972, inspired the new watch’s retro design. As a result, TAG Heuer has echoed that watch’s red, yellow and blue coloring scheme.
The White Heuer Montreal from 1972.
The new model somewhat replicates the original dial, though in a current Carrera case with right-side crown rather than a cushion case with a left crown, and without the marked pulsimeter and tachymeter references seen on the original. TAG Heuer has replaced those references with a blue and red ruled scale, and replaces the ‘Montreal’ monicker with ‘Carrera.’
However, the new model echoes the original’s use colorful luminescence, which was just being developed at the time. The TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition, as a result, features a chronograph minute counter (at 3 o’clock) with three curved lines, each colored with yellow SuperLuminova. The same color is also found on the central minute and hour hands. The central chronograph seconds hand is colored with straight red lacquer.
The dial itself features three blue subdials (with updated hands) protected by a domed ‘glassbox’ sapphire crystal, inspired by the original.
TAG Heuer’s own Caliber Heuer 02 manufacture chronograph movement powers the tribute watch. The movement, visible from the sapphire caseback, includes a column wheel and a vertical clutch and boasts an impressive eighty-hour power reserve.
Packaged in a special box, TAG Heuer will package the Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition in a special gift box and make it available in July at TAG Heuer boutiques and online at www.tagheuer.com. Price: $6,750
Specifications: TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition
Movement: TAG Heuer Caliber Heuer 02 Automatic manufacture movement with column-wheel chronograph, vertical clutch, power reserve of 80 hours.
Dial: Blue, white opaline dial, white flange with 60-second/minute scale and three counters (at 3 o’clock: blue minute chronograph counter with yellow SuperLuminova, at 6 o’clock: blue permanent second indicator, at 9 o’clock: blue hour chronograph counter. Rhodium-plated minute and hour hands with yellow SuperLuminova. Red lacquered central hand. Black printed logo.
Case: 39mm polished steel, polished steel fixed bezel, domed sapphire crystal, polished steel standard crown and pushers, steel screw-down sapphire caseback with special numbered limited-edition engraving. Water-resistant to 100 meters.
Strap: Blue alligator leather with polished steel folding clasp and double safety push buttons.
Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara has teamed with TAG Heuer once again to design a limited edition watch based on TAG Heuer’s sporty Formula 1 model fit with the Caliber Heuer 02 chronograph movement.
The new TAG Heuer X Fragment Design Chronograph Limited Edition.
The new TAG Heuer X Fragment Design Chronograph Limited Edition combines Fujiwara’s streetwear designs with TAG Heuer’s technical expertise and current Formula 1 case, a design based on a cushion-shaped case TAG Heuer used in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The resulting chronograph watch features a less cluttered dial design than those found on the TAG Heuer Formula 1 models. Fujiwara utilizes a retro-inspired two-subdial layout and then subtly customizes it with red accents and small white lettering and logos.
Fujiwara teamed with TAG Heuer in 2018 to put his designer touch on a Carrera, where TAG Heuer more typically utilizes its advanced in-house Heuer 02 Chronograph movement, most often in a three-subdial layout.
Fragment influences
Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara, founder of Fragment Design.
The 44m steel TAG Heuer Formula 1 case retains the collection’s black ceramic tachymeter bezel, but replaces standard markers with small red squares, with two squares at the top of the dial in place of the Formula 1’s familiar ‘12’ marker. Just below the two red squares Fujiwara places his Fragment Design logo, with ‘Fragment’ printed on the dial between the 4 and 5 o’clock positions.
A circular red sapphire crystal window on the caseback displays the automatic column-wheel chronograph movement with a red overlay that also features the dual-lightning logo of Fragment Design, the influential design house Fujiwara founded in 2003.
The new watch arrives with a five-row steel bracelet with a folding clasp. TAG Heuer is engraving each watch with a unique limited-edition number from 1 to 500.
The new TAG Heuer X Fragment Design Chronograph Limited Edition will be available to pre-order from www.tagheuer.com and in select TAG Heuer boutiques before going on sale on July 27. As a limited edition of 500 pieces, and with the Fragment Design collaboration, expect strong demand. Price: $6,150.
Specifications: TAG Heuer X Fragment Design Chronograph Limited Edition
Movement: Automatic Caliber Heuer 02 with column-wheel chronograph and vertical clutch, 80-hour power reserve
Case: 44mm polished steel, ceramic black polished tachymeter, fixed bezel, flat sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment, steel screw-down crown, red sapphire screw-down caseback with special engraving, water-resistant to 100 meters
Dial: Black opaline with two counters:
– 3 o’clock: black embossed minute chronograph counter
– 9 o’clock: black embossed hour chronograph counter
Red printed indexes, rhodium-plated hour and minute hands with white SuperLumiNova, red lacquered central hand, white TAG Heuer printed logo, date window at 6 o’clock, “HEUER 02 AUTOMATIC/FRAGMENT” printing
Even though the Monaco Grand Prix, originally scheduled for last weekend, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TAG Heuer is still presenting a special-edition timepiece in tribute to the event and to the Monaco collection.
The new TAG Heuer Monaco Grand Prix de Monaco Historique Limited Edition features the race’s red-and-white color, but now includes a small silver classic car logo at the 1 o’clock position in honor of the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique race.
Additional race-imagery can be found on the caseback where TAG Heuer has printed the race’s logo on the inside of the transparent sapphire glass.
Inside, and visible through that caseback, TAG Heuer fits its in-house Caliber Heuer 02 chronograph movement, featuring a column wheel and a vertical clutch. The movement also offers an unusually long 80-hour power reserve. The new watch is to be made in a limited edition of 1,000, each of which is engraved with its unique number and the words “One of 1000”.
As is often the case with its limited editions, TAG Heuer is placing the new watch in its a themed package, which in this case is a red watch box decorated with a checkered racing flag. The new watch is available for pre-orders via www.tagheuer.com and in select TAG Heuer boutiques before its launch on July 27, 2020.
A scene from an earlier running of the Monaco Grand Prix Historiques, which was canceled this year due to COVID-19 concerns.
TAG Heuer is the Official Sponsor and Timekeeper of the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique as well as the Official Watch of the Monaco Grand Prix and the Official Watch Partner of the Monaco Top Cars Collection museum.
Price: CHF 6,700 (or approximately $6,885)
Specifications: TAG Heuer Monaco Grand Prix de Monaco Historique Limited Edition
(Reference CBL2114.FC6486, limited to 1,000 watches)
MOVEMENT: TAG Heuer Automatic Caliber Heuer 02 Manufacture automatic chronograph, 33 jewels, balance oscillating at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz), 80-hour power reserve
FUNCTIONS: Chronograph with minutes and hours, permanent second indicator; date, hours, minutes; central chronograph seconds hand.
CASE:39mm fine-brushed and polished steel, fixed bezel, sapphire crystal with Grand Prix de Monaco Historique logo printing on the back, polished stainless-steel crown at 3 o’clock and push buttons at 2 and 4 o’clock, water-resistant to 100 meters, stainless-steel case back with limited-edition number engraving.
DIAL: Rhodium-plated red sunray brushed dial, rhodium-plated indexes and hour and minute hands with white SuperLuminova, red lacquered central hand, Grand Prix de Monaco Historique logo at 1 o’clock on the dial.
STRAP: Black calfskin leather strap, folding clasp in polished stainless steel
TAG Heuer in March debuted the third edition TAG Heuer Connected watch with a host of updates aimed at enhancing the watch’s sportiness and increasing the ability of the wearer to customize it.
Now with two right-side pushers, the case and design of the three 45mm steel cases or the one blackened titanium-cased watch now largely echoes the brand’s more traditional chronographs. You’ll find recognizable TAG Heuer lugs (with both polished and brushed finishes), an angled ceramic bezel, rotating crown and screwed caseback, but all now teamed within a more traditional chronograph two-pusher case profile.
TAG Heuer has also developed a new Sports app, complete with a much-requested heart rate monitor, to enhance the activities options for the new watch, powered by Wear OS by Google.
The back of the TAG Heuer Connected, showing new sensors.
TAG Heuer has also updated the OLED touchscreen (protected by a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal) so that the wearer can choose from between five always-on faces inspired by TAG Heuer mechanical or digital dials.
With built-in GPS, the TAG Heuer Connected watches provide updated, highly detailed tracking for golf, running, cycling, walking, fitness and other sessions and access daily connected services. Using the app, wearers can personalize the watch’s appearance and its reporting and notifications capability. These include a three-hand version of the Heuer 02 manufacture movement skeletonized dial, a Carrera Heuer 01 dial, a liquid crystal-like display and an unusual algorithm-based neural network animation named Orbital.
One dial choice is Orbital,an unusual algorithm-based neural network animation.
Interestingly, TAG Heuer has also provided an option pixel-intense “tribute” face inspired by the hexagonal nanotube structure of the TAG Heuer carbon composite hairspring.
All the new watch faces can be set to these different dial options in a variety of colors.
To extend the battery life, the screen alternates between active and ambient mode, but it always indicates time. The steel versions of the watch feature a new, interchangeable bracelet system to accommodate a bracelet or strap. Here, TAG Heuer offers a choice of rubber straps in a classic black scale pattern with red stitching, perforated red, orange or khaki, all with a folding buckle. Each watch is fitted with a magnetic battery charger and comes with a travel pouch.
The new TAG Heuer Connected watch is available to order, from select retailers all TAG Heuer boutiques, as well as online www.tagheuer.com.
iW Interview: Inside the New Connected
iW spoke with Stephane Bianchi, CEO of TAG Heuer and LVMH Watch Division, asTAG Heuer was set to launch its latest Connected model. He told us more about how the new version differs from the previous model, and offered insight into the role of the smartwatch at the company.
iW: How is the new TAG Heuer Connected a more intuitive (or different) experience for the user than the previous version?
Bianchi: We have added an improved sport app. Each sport is very clear and obvious on the screen as you scroll. You can really see exactly what you want to do with your watch. You see the visual, then you click on it and you have everything you want. It is intuitive and it is fun, and it’s important to enjoy your sport activities. You can gauge whether you improve or just maintain, and this allows you to record your improvements.We have made a good tool watch that is also very elegant.
What have you changed on the case and dial?
We changed many things. We have a slightly thinner case and a flat bezel. It is the same diameter but it is thinner with more refined lugs. It looks more like a traditional chronograph watch. If you place the Heuer 02 face on the watch, from a distance it even looks like our more traditional watch. It is made to wear everywhere. You can take it from a meeting at work directly into Central Park to go running.
This is a luxury watch that is still very good for sporting activities.
Were there changes you made that resulted from requests made by consumers?
The new heart rate sensor is the biggest change. This was a very big request from our users. The heart rate sensor also allowed us to vastly improve our running application within the new watch. And you will find tremendous improvements in the golf application.This is something that I use quite frequently.
Is TAG Heuer reaching new consumer groups with the Connected?
Hopefully yes. This is big business for TAG Heuer. And it is additional business as it does not take business away from any of our other watch sales. We have found that seventy percent of our Connected watch buyers then went on to purchase a traditional TAG Heuer watch. They were first attracted to us with the Connected watch, and then they continued with us to purchase a more traditional model.This is a very positive effect.
How important is customization?
Again, we are in the luxury world. That means you need to create a bespoke watch. This is very important for us.This is not just a smart watch, it is your own watch.If you want a steel bracelet, you can get one. If you want a colorful rubber strap you can do that to. It is up to you.We have made this so you can use it on any occasion. The duality of this watch is fantastic, and that is what we were aiming for. When you have this on your wrist you can see and feel that it is very different from the Apple watch. It has to be.We have to be TAG Heuer.
You’ll find recognizable TAG Heuer lugs (with both polished and brushed finishes), an angled ceramic bezel, rotating crown and screwed caseback on the new generation Connected.
Which functions do you access most often on your own Connected watch?
I use it most for messages, but also for running and for checking my heart rate.
How important will Connected watch sales be for TAG Heuer in the upcoming few years?
We don’t give numbers, but sales for us are a double-digit figure. Every year we seek to improve this, but of course our traditional watch business is our core business.
Also for this model, TAG Heuer fits a black PVD-coated brass rotor (visible through the sapphire crystal caseback) and then prints watch specifications on it using a rose gold printing process.
