Tag Heuer Carrera Turns 60 With New Look, Diamonds and Ryan Gosling
At Tag Heuer, the Carrera watch has turned 60 years young.
Case in point: the new iteration unveiled on Monday at Watches and Wonders is no commemorative piece — that was the black-and-white limited-edition launched in January.
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Rather, this chronograph with a brand-new curving profile inspired by the collector-favorite “glassbox” design is the first step in what comes next, according to chief executive officer Frédéric Arnault.
“Understanding 60 years of evolution is how we projected this piece into modernity,” he said. “It was perceived as a heritage, historical piece but this aesthetic has a lot of potential. It’s a shape, a box, an architecture we want to install as a modern piece of today.”
A tall order for an object that’s 39 millimeters in diameter? It does pack a host of evolutions, starting with the TH20-00 automatic chronograph caliber updated by movements director Carole Forestier-Kasapi, who joined the watchmaker in 2020, and the new curving sapphire crystal that ensures maximum legibility by removing the bezel.
But there’s also that six-decade-long history that gets collectors excited, although it had at times drifted from its core through successive relaunches in the late 20th century, according to Arnault.
Pristine examples of standout iterations command prices of up to 30,000 euros, while those in average condition still go for 5,000 euros at auction. Even the now sold-out 60th-anniversary edition already commands premiums between 30 and 70 percent on pre-owned sites like Chrono24.
The watch owes its name to the legendary Carrera Panamericana road race, an event that took place yearly between 1950 and 1954, a “rather jolly, quite dangerous” mad dash from the northern to southern borders of Mexico, said Tag Heuer heritage director Nicholas Biebuyck.
The word appealed to Jack Heuer, who’d taken over the family business in 1958, for its manifold connotations that span from the literal race and road to career and life path, and its ability to translate well across culture.
“It’s important to note that Jack [Heuer] was not a designer. He was an engineer. He was a business leader. He was an entrepreneur, but he was very much a kind of Steve Jobs in the business,” said Biebuyck.
He attributed the staying power of the watch to Tag Heuer’s position as an “everyman’s brand” and a purpose-first object whose few aesthetic flourishes were dictated by Heuer’s “curatorial eye to the finished product because of his understanding of the marketplace, of how to communicate and brand the products, what consumers wanted, what he would want as a design enthusiast.”
“It goes to show that when you produce something that’s fundamentally about utility, you end up with something very pure and very direct, [that] sells, with great staying power,” continued the heritage director.
As such, the Carrera’s balance between sporty and elegant, a classic form factor and strong design codes made it the ideal starting point for “a collection we are going to install and develop in the coming years,” said Arnault, describing the new launches as “major steps for the brand.”
There are straightforward ideas, like the 42-mm tourbillon version with the new look or a slimmed-down, more unisex take on the Carrera Date, an automatic 36-mm chronograph that will now come with four color options for the dial and is expected to appeal to male and female consumers.
But most of all, there’s the second iteration of the Carrera Plasma, which follows up last year’s lab-grown sensation with an even bolder look featuring its “Diamant d’Avant-Garde” diamonds. Gems grown in unusual shapes — trapezoids, quadrilaterals and even an arrowhead — have all been specially grown for the spots they occupy on the aluminum bezel and bracelet of the 2023 version.
While Arnault wouldn’t be drawn further into what shape “unexplored dimensions” could take, there will be further releases that will tap into the latest developments in the lab-grown diamond field.
Naming the major challenge in this new field as repeatability and reliability in the production process, he said the brand “has every intention of being first [to bring] something unique on that segment, year after year.”
Marking the Caliber Heuer 02 Tourbillon Nanograph movement, this 44-mm COSC-certified timepiece also has an oscillating weight in the shape of the Tag Heuer shield visible through its sapphire back.
Other lines too will see new developments presented at the fair. The Aquaracer 200 line will also be supplemented with 30 and 40-mm versions featuring stainless-steel cases paired with 18-karat solid-gold bezel inlays and crowns in either rose or yellow gold, and a pair of 40-mm with solid 18-karat gold cases and bezel.
These two will have the automatic Calibre TH31-00, another evolution from Forestier-Kasapi, who had already signed the solar-powered movement premiered at last year’s Watches and Wonders.
Whether they’re historic house signatures or new developments, Arnault said all the evolutions brought to the table share this idea of mining the brand’s history and codes while iterating them in relevant ways, such as the cushion-shaped Monza, reprising historic pushers and indices, that was among the highlights of January’s LVMH Watch Week.
Embodying that is also a new “Chase for Carrera” campaign featuring house ambassador Ryan Gosling, premiering in conjunction with the fair in 12 cities including Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore and Seoul.
The visuals and 3D animations serve as a trailer of sorts for a short action-comedy film slated to debut on April 20 in London, directed by “Bullet Train” filmmaker David Leitch and with direct creative input from Gosling. This project, described by Arnault as a collaboration, segues into Tag Heuer’s wider ambition of being disruptive in watchmaking and luxury while remaining “consistent on the long term” be it with product, partnerships or people.
“Increasingly, clients and enthusiasts understand how brands work. You can no longer have a purely contractual relationship to use someone’s image in service of the brand,” said Arnault. “There has to be a real [human] investment in order for the message to be inspiring and speaking to today’s world.”
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