Classic.
Contemporary and Avant-garde.
Tag Heuer’s iconic chronograph celebrates its 55th year in 2018.
Let’s look at 10 key facts about the TAG Heuer Carrera.
Jack Heuer designed the Carrera in 1963.
The great-grandson of the company’s founder, Jack was the company’s CEO from 1962 – 1982.
It was under his leadership, the Carrera was designed, developed, and introduced to the
market.
And so, the Carrera and Jack will always be synonymous.
A dangerous race inspired Jack to create the Carrera.
During the 12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida, Jack was seated beside the parents of famous
Ferrari drivers – the Rodriguez brothers of Mexico.
The parents told him how relieved they were that their sons didn’t race the Carrera
Panamericana, the world’s most dangerous race.
The name Carrera stuck, and he planned to design a watch named after it.
Jack wanted a clean chronograph.
A fan of modern design and architecture, Jack hated the unnecessary tracks found in chronographs
back then.
He took a class on watch dials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
and used what he learned to design the Carrera’s clean chronograph dial.
The Carrera follows the Heuer Brand DNA.
By removing extraneous details, more space was created on the dial of the Carrera, allowing
the chronograph to be easily read.
True to the Heuer brand DNA, it was modern and avant-garde.
But, it also has a lot in common with the Rolex Daytona of the 60s.
Their dials were made by the same manufacturer, Singer, while the movements were made by Valjoux.
Both models have the same exact hour markers and milled registers, but the Carrera had
no contrasting sub-dials.
Launched in 1963, the Carrera was a runaway success.
The clean design of the Carrera was a game changer in horology, and it quickly became
the watch of choice for both professional racers and racing enthusiasts.
Over the years, it was a constant on the wrists of top racecar drivers, like Bruce McLaren
and Jo Siffert.
Years passed however, and the Carrera would lose out to Quartz Watches in the 80s.
Heuer came up with the second generation Carrera in 1969 and continued producing it
throughout the 1970s.
But as the decade came to an end, the world turned to quartz-powered watches, causing
the Carrera to eventually lose its business.
In 1985, HEUER MERGED WITH Techniques d’Avant Garde (TAG) IN 1985.
Eventually, the company became TAG Heuer as we know it today.
The merger sparked renewed interest in Heuer’s heritage and to tap into this growing interest
among watch collectors.
They decided to re-launch a special edition of the Carrera in 1995.
Jack Heuer even attended the launch, despite the hurt of losing the company years back.
The new Carrera started bearing the TAG Heuer logo in the 2000s.
The decade saw major changes at TAG Heuer after being bought by French luxury conglomerate
LVMH.
Instead of just being a limited edition watch and retro novelty, the Carrera became part
of the permanent TAG Heuer range – a strategy that continues until now.
Today, there are over 10 generations of the Carrera.
As it celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, the company has decided to release modern
reworkings of the iconic watch, with 13 new skeleton-style variations – a move that
the company says is about designing the watches for the future.
The 60’s saw the golden age of motorsports, and through a true stroke of genius, Jack
Heuer created one of the most iconic chronographs ever – the Tag Heuer Carrera.