It's a great day at SwissWatchExpo I'm Tim and
today it's all about the Tag Heuer Carrera chronograph.
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welcome back this is Tim and and today we are going to talk about Tag Heuer and and some of the
most iconic Ssyles they've had there they've been known about their Aquaracer timepieces but also
in the speed section if you look at their history they have really focused on the chronograph and
it has always been one of their top sellers in the TAG Heuer line but back in the 1950s and 60s
before they came out with a chronograph or the Carrera style it was all about their stopwatches
they were number one in the stopwatch industry and it's because the Heuer family was really
into racing really into speed and and they wanted something that was going to make to measure time
but very clearly and so forth but in 1962 Jack Heuer fourth generation owner of the company
was invited to a race called the Carrera of Panner Americana now this race was so intense it was so
dangerous so much speed involved and you know back in those days and the rules really didn't
apply to to face to safe racing so it was a very exciting time for racing andwhen he was invited he
loved the experience but what he really loved what he really cherished was the name Carrera
so he brought that name back to Switzerland in 1963 and and went ahead and light claimed to
that name uh and and started the design for the Carrera chronograph itself so in 1963 he kept
the Purity he came he kept the Simplicity of the of the stopwatch feel and put it onto a response
the first time piece was actually just a silver dial very monotone but such a huge hit for Tag
Heuer eventually he started doing what's called a two-tone dial and being creating one of the most
famous timepieces was the their panda style still for watch connoisseurs one of the hardest to get
and one of the most cherished timepieces to put into a Tag Heuer collection so the story really
doesn't stop there it kind of goes moves forward into 1966. now this is kind of a cool story in
1966 the quest was to make an automatic movement to go into the chronograph timepieces and before
then everything was manual wind but to do this you had to miniaturize and make everything smaller to
fit inside the case so in 1966 they collaborated with a couple of the companies in secret Breitling
being one of and Hamilton being another and they came up with a new movement a new automatic
movement that would fit into this timepiece and in 1969 it was actually introduced as the Caliber 11.
now moving forward up to today's dates here we have a couple of timepieces that actually have the
Caliber 16 movement the Caliber 16 movement that does have a 42 hour power Reserve looking at the
timepiece here we're going to start off with the black piece now this is a 43 millimeter model now
the 43 middle model in most timepieces going is going to sit pretty good on a seven and a quarter
seven and a half inch wrist this one is actually pretty large so putting on my wrist I'm not kind
of maxed out on my wrist of where we can be on this size of the timepiece mainly because not only
the case profile of the timepiece but also the bezel itself and it really really shows a big oops
a big look on on your wrist and so forth what's also nice about the timepiece if we look at it
too it has that beautiful black ceramic bezel really showing off the tachymeter here that
you see and the inside is a black matte finish now look closely at the hour markers that are put onto
the timepiece those are applied but it's it goes from 0 to 60 just like a speedometer on a car a
really cool design that they that Tag went ahead and put on thir piece another great look on this
is you have a double date window now the double date window is unique because you don't see a lot
of companies with chronographs with a double date window I believe Omega has as a couple and then
there's a couple other brands that do too but to find a double date window on a chronograph
timepiece like this is pretty rare so another reason to add this to your collection it is just a
really cool design and you'll see it kind of stays with the two-tone look even though you have a
lot of black involved the silver going through on the subdials really makes that that watch pop the
luminescence on the hands is actually on the hand but when you when it darkens it is a great look he
really is flipping over the timepiece you're going to see that does have the exhibition back that
shows off that Caliber 16 movement beautiful heart heartbeat that you see here with the escapement it
is gorgeous stainless steel a lot of times when you see the case itself you're going to have a
lot more satin polish to the case this is actually a high polish almost all the way around the only
difference is with the integrated bracelet you do have the satin and high polish but you rarely
see a high polished look on a case going all the way through the through the timepiece now coming
through at the back you're going to see that it does have a deployment clasp just like this.
Along with the Heuer design that you see
very nice now stepping over to the blue design we're going to go to the blue design because I
like the size of this actually fits my wrist really well it's a 41 millimeter
and of course, I love blue blue is my favorite color I've mentioned that in a couple of my
videos but you're going to see that you have that stunning blue ceramic tachymeter bezel now
here we're going to have a flash of color that really kind of goes along with the racing motif
you have the blue and of course the silver and white sub-dials on the inside with a white inner
ring along with a red chronograph stopwatch hand and you see the orange segments on the running
second hand it's a really cool splash of color that really brings this whole watch together
the millimeter size on the two timepieces is still pretty thick but here you do have a closed back
which I'm a big fan of because it brings together that Tag Heuer emblem that is well known for the
Carrera line you see the word Carrera underneath the timepiece also again with the stainless steel
bracelet coming together with the deployment clasp another great timepiece to add to your collection
so if you'd like to learn more about these two timepieces or any of our
racing timepieces contact us at SwissWatchExpo.com