It’s hard to touch an icon. Some will cry scandal, the others that it must live with the times. TAG Heuer ventured into the exercise with its mythical Carrera.
Olivier Müller
The “bridge between tradition and modernity” is an antiphon in watch marketing – or the art of making something new out of something old, without offending old or new customers… TAG Heuer took the opportunity of its 160th anniversary to touch up some of the curves and angles of its Carrera collection. It was not an easy task: the Carrera is the brand’s flagship creation – in volume, in value, but also and above all in image.
The first shift began in July 2020, with four initial Carrera Sport models. It continues today with more dressy models, which the brand wants to be more “premium”. In practice, this means first of all the disappearance of the tachometric bezel, and its famous 400 km/h scale.
Secondly, the four new Carrera models presented today are one millimeter narrower: the 43 mm diameter is reduced to 42 mm, the 45 mm diameter is reduced to 44 mm. The box has been reworked to become thinner. This search for a slimmer profile was underlined by work on the finishes, as well as by the development of a new steel bracelet, alternating polished and satin-finished surfaces. It will gradually be extended to other Carrera models. The same will apply to the Heuer Manufacture 02 chronograph caliber: it will be fitted from the outset to all new chrono models and will gradually replace the existing models.
Finally, new dial colors are coming: green, black and gold (on 44 mm versions), and anthracite and champagne (on 42 mm versions). Nevertheless, despite appearances, TAG Heuer, under the leadership of its new CEO Frédéric Arnault, intends to reduce the existing references within the Carrera collection. Gradually, some models will disappear. An opportunity for collectors…
> Our opinion: A risky exercise… but successful. Removing the tachometer from the Carrera is like removing the rev counter from a race car: it’s heresy. Unless the watch is no longer aimed at the same audience. In other words, to leave the field of pure performance to go on that of the pleasure of the lines, of the aesthetics, even of the urban. For a play created in 1963, this is an exercise she can afford. The venerable Carrera deserves and is offered a calmer, more sophisticated, more elegant variant – in short, a more mature version…for more mature collectors too ? Only time will tell. It remains a beautiful aesthetic work, which refuses to fall into the easy vintage and opens the world Carrera.
