Tag Heuer recently celebrated a very important anniversary, and they did so
with the introduction of a beautiful Carerra and we've got it in stock now. So let's check it out.
This beautiful watch I have next to me is the Tag Heuer 160th Anniversary
Montreal Carrera, which is a bit of a mouthful. And it is a beautiful,
beautiful example of the Carerra, a very classic size because it is an
homage to the original Montreal edition of the Carrera that they introduced in 1972.
Now, this is a very different watch than that one, that one's probably, one you collectors might be
a little more familiar with. It had a big beefy 42 millimeter case. It had a cushion shape and it was
a lot thicker than anything they had made before. Obviously in 72, the Moonwatch was in production.
So 42 millimeter chronographs were certainly, in vogue at the time. And certainly I think people
would have been familiar with, but not anything with a case it's thick is that it was a jarring
and it was actually introduced in an attempt to break into the north American market. There
actually wasn't a Formula One or any sort of a major track in Montreal at the time, they actually
had released a limited edition of a few different watches named after north American cities,
Montreal being one of them. I'm not sure how big of a hit the watch was then, but they definitely
wanted to make an homage to that in this one, but making a lot of radical changes, that'll hopefully
make it a lot more popular and actually a lot more of a classic chronograph than the original
vintage one was so let's just go ahead and get into it because this is a beautiful watch.
The first thing you're going to notice is the color on the dial, or at least you should. That's
the first thing that drew me to it. It is an absolutely incredible looking combination of color
and accents. We have a very bright white dial here, which perfectly offsets the different colors
of the subtitles. The beautiful looking Navy blue here at the, uh, at all of these subtitles,
as well as you'll notice the yellow accents around the border of each one and the minute
and second hand and the luminous dots around every yellow surface on this watch, it does light up,
which I think is incredible. And of course, you've got the bright red second chronograph sweep hand,
that makes it very great for, you know, what it's made for being erasing chronograph and just off
just absolutely sets off all the incredible color design that they have here.
This case is a very slim 39 millimeters as opposed to the 42 millimeter cushion shape of the
original. And that definitely makes it a lot more of a classic style chronograph to my mind is it's
a lot more traditional in terms of the original Carerra. It does have a Sapphire crystal,
so they've made some improvements there. This is an incredible condition. This watch is completely
unworn by the way. And it's got a full set of this beautiful material here that I'm going to get into
as well. Other than that, the lugs are pretty sharp. I do like the sharp edges here on the,
that also makes it, that gives it just a slightly more modern touch, which I think
is great. And something else that makes it an homage to the original is you will not see a tag
anywhere on this. This actually does have the Heuer logo, the original from back in the day.
So that is another bit of a throwback to the original Carrera that you'll see here. Um, you
also notice that Montreal is not listed anywhere on the dial, or anywhere on the
watch itself. You'll have to check the material for that. That's also by design again. It is
called Montreal and it's promotional material, and of course still on the Heuer website. But
this is literally just the color. Amash is pretty much the one thing this has in common with the,
with the original. And this is the one thing that vintage collectors are probably drawn
to these bright yellow accents on it, which perfectly sets off the white dial.
This one comes with only one strap combo, I believe directly from Tag, and it's this
beautiful looking Navy blue lizard skin here. That's the only one that comes with, although
this would look incredible on a NATO strap, it would look incredible on brown leather too.
Obviously the beautiful thing about straps are they're endlessly customizable. And of course,
as a collector's edition piece, that this is I would highly consider just taking the strap off,
keeping it in the box and putting whatever you want on it. Even though this does have some bright
and very specific colors, there's a lot of room to play with, and I'm already imagining dozens of
different straps on this thing, and it's going to look beautiful in every single one of them.
We do also have the vintage Heuer logo here on the clasp. I think that's great. You'll see that
on a few other tags for your models, but I think it's done to excellent effect on this one and it
perfectly blends in with that lizard skin strap. And when you see the back, this is something that
you also wouldn't have seen on the original Carrera is a Sapphire exhibition case back.
And this also has a beautiful engraved 160th anniversary rotor here on the back.
You'll also see writing about the a hundred meters water resistance,
and the fact that this is a limited edition of a thousand pieces. I didn't mention that earlier,
but this is actually a pretty rare watch. And it's only going to get harder to find,
especially in this condition. One of the things I forgot to mention that they changed about this,
and it's something that I think is incredible is the Calibre 02 movement. They put on this,
this movement is shock resistant, heat resistant, and most importantly has an 80
hour power reserve, which for a chronograph specifically, a chronograph of this size,
I think is a great little piece of watchmaking from Tag Heuer. It's something they don't get
as much credit for as other brands, but I think this has done to incredible effect
and to get such a slim vintage size chronograph with such an extensive power reserve.
I think this is a fantastic watch and not ust visually, but operationally and functionally as
well. Uh, this is, uh, probably my favorite Heuer I've seen in a while. It doesn't just
come with this beautiful watch. You also get the commemorative booklets and papers here,
as well as this incredible looking a hundred and 60th anniversary loop. I think this is a
really great color. This is one of about three or four. I think different watches that Tag
Heuer is celebrating their 160th anniversary with. Heuer fans probably know them well,
this is far and away my favorite, I was a fan of the original Montreal. I've seen from
pictures and doing my studying, but this is an incredible watch. The 39 millimeter size
is a bit of a classic size, but it's not undersized. I can think of a lot
of watches that were a lot smaller that still measured that same case diameter.
And of course it is an absolutely stunning piece to look at. It'll be the cornerstone
of any collection, whether you focus on Tags or otherwise. So
whether you're already a big Tag Heuer-head, and you want to add another collection,
another watch to that collection, or if you're thinking this is the one tag that just really
catches your eye. I certainly consider myself in that latter camp, but this is an incredible piece,
never been worn before and limited to only a thousand pieces. So if you want this,
you don't need to let it get away. Cause I don't know when the next time you'll be able to find a
watch like this. Of course it's not just this one. We've got thousands of other pieces in stock and
we're adding new ones every day. So like, and subscribe to our channel if you haven't yet.
So you can find out what pieces we're excited about and check out our website. Cause that's
at the end of the day where you're going to find them all. So check us out at SwissWatchExpo.