TAG Heuer 60th Anniversary
The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary Edition was recently unveiled at LVMH Watch Week in Singapore, kicking off 2023 with a bang. Mark McArthur-Christie, a self-confessed Heuer devotee and a proud owner of an original 2447S, explores the new 60th Anniversary Edition in detail.
Always been a Heuer fan
Before I start, I should declare an interest. I am a nailed-on Heuerholic. My 1963 Carrera 2447S is on my wrist as I write this and my beaten-up old Autavia Viceroy is next to me on the desk. One of my biggest regrets is not biting my pal James’ arm off when he offered me his early ‘70s PVD Monza for beans some years ago, thinking another one would be along in a bit. I’ve been into Heuers as long as I’ve been into vintage motorsport, which is pretty much since I learned to read, so I wanted a Heuer as soon as I knew that was what my heroes Jochen Rindt and Derek Bell wore.
A reinterpretation of the Heuer Carrera 2447SN
One of the many advantages of being old enough to still think quartz is a bit new-fangled is that I was able to pick up old Heuers before anyone thought they had any value. When I started combing the antiques market cabinets, well before Tim Berners-Lee invented the internet so we could buy, sell and find out about watches, old Heuers cost less than the bus fare home. For me, the Carrera is still the most beautiful watch Jack Heuer designed. So this new watch, intended as “…a faithful reinterpretation of the Carrera 2447SN”, has some big boots to fill.
TAG Heuer is launching the Anniversary 2447SN because the Carrera gets its ‘bus pass for reaching age 60. There’s a bit of an irony there; the hardcore Carrera Panamericana was about as far removed from pipe, slippers and the No35 to Clapham as a car race could possibly get.
It’s a bit of a year for anniversaries. Rolex’s Explorer turns 70, as does the Sub. And don’t forget Swatch turning 40. Seriously? Swatch is 40!
The Carrera name
Sorry, back to the plot… Although he spent time talking to men who’d raced from one end of Mexico to the other, Jack Heuer didn’t actually name his new watch directly after the infamous race. It’s probably fairer to suggest he was influenced by it. He says in his autobiography “It was at Sebring… that I first heard the word ‘Carrera’. I loved not only its sexy sound but also its multiple meanings, which include road, race, course and career. All very much Heuer territory!” He also realised the well-heeled crowd at Sebring would be ideal customers for his new wrist chronographs.
As soon as he got home to Switzerland, Heuer registered the Carrera name and set to building a chronograph to suit. The firm had already decided to move away from standard three-handers in 1958 as there was simply too much competition. Instead, Jack Heuer was determined to dominate the market for wrist chronographs. The Carrera, along with the Autavia, were his first moves.
The Valjoux 72
The new watches would use the already venerable Valjoux 72 movements with their three subdials, one for running seconds, another timing 30 minute intervals and finally a 12-hour counter. The whole thing was controlled by two pushers, start/stop and reset. All very familiar today.
Calibre Heuer 02 Automatic
Watch technology has come a long way in sixty years. The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary Edition runs the firm’s Calibre Heuer 02 Automatic. There are certainly similarities – using a column wheel to control the chrono functions, for example – but there are massive upgrades in terms of modern materials, finishing, design and engineering tolerances. The new movement and the old 72 are as far removed from each other as the 3.0 litre Tipo 168 in a 1963 250GTO (another 60th anniversary this year) and the 6.0 litre Tipo F140 in a contemporary Enzo.
Mind you, where you’d put Colombo’s 168 in a glass case and call it art, you’re never likely to do that with the powerplant from an Enzo; it looks as though it’s come from a tipper truck. By contrast, both the Calibre Heuer 02 and the Valjoux are gorgeous. The Valjoux has the sort of beauty that comes from being entirely, absolutely and unfussily functional. The Cal. 02 is just beautiful from the off. Geneva striping, polished screws, satin-PVD self-winding mass and that red-topped column wheel.
The fuel tank on the new movement is a bit bigger too. Where the Valjoux would run out of gas pretty briskly, the 02 happily turns in 80 hours of power reserve from fully wound. The new movement also does away completely with the problems afflicting the Cal. 72’s keyless works where the stem wears its brass bearing oval over the years.
Talking of which, there’s a significant difference in the way the two watches wind, too – and not just because the new watch uses an automatic winding system. Winding a Valjoux 72 has a distinctive ‘clack’ – it’s a physical, mechanical wind; you can feel the power going into the mainspring. The Calibre Heuer 02 is altogether smoother, quieter and more refined.
TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary Edition
There’s an old saying in the advertising business – ‘The strongest desire is not love or hate. It is one person’s need to change another’s copy.’ It’s the same with watch design. Give a watch designer a perfectly good classic and they just can’t resist fiddling. Move a numeral here. Change an index there. Make the logo bigger – all that jazz. Hats off to TAG Heuer with the Anniversary Carrera, they’ve (mostly) left well alone and where they’ve made changes, they work.
This is fortunate. Jack Heuer had very clear views about what constituted good watch design. This was hardly surprising for a lover of Le Corbusier, Charles Eames, Saarinen and Niemeyer. In fact, Heuer was so keen on Eames that, as a student, he saved up to buy an Eames lounge chair which he installed in his student digs.
When he began making watches, chronographs tended to be military tools, designed for ranging artillery. This meant the dial was often a swirl of telemeter scales – look at something like a Gallet Multichron. Heuer said, “I wanted a dial that had a clear, clean design…”. And, thanks to a new tension ring that kept the watch’s crystal tight against the case, he was able to move the markings off the dial and onto it, clearing the dial of clutter.
TAG Heuer design
TAG Heuer’s designers have been clever indeed, because although they’ve had to make a significant alteration to the dial, unless you’re a fellow Heuerholic, you won’t have even spotted it.
Look at the arrangement of the chrono dials. On the original, the running seconds is at 9, the 30 minute counter at 3 and the 12 hour totaliser at 6. On the Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary Edition, it’s a 12 hour totaliser at 9 and the running seconds at 6 – the 20 minute counter stays put. The subdials are still radiused and there’s even still a tiny ‘Swiss’ below the pinion of the 6 o’clock dial.
The different internal arrangements of the Valjoux and the Cal. 02 necessitate the change. And this is a re-interpretation, remember, not a recreation, so it’s OK by us (although a recreation would be a treat, Monsieur Arnault, if you’re reading).
Heuer 2447
While we’re on the subject, there’s a tiny difference in the 12 o’clock baton, too. The original has just a single baton, bisected with a black stripe. The new watch has two of both. And where the 1963 watch’s hour batons were plain, the Anniversary uses a single stripe on each. The designers have kept the two lume pips at 12, although nowadays they’re Super-LumiNova rather than tritium.
The Carrera’s original dials were made by Singer and had a wonderful, shimmering eggshell finish. It would have been lovely to have seen a recreation, but TAG Heuer has gone for the grained sunray finish of the slightly later watches.
The weight of the new watch is definitely up, though. The 36mm original from ‘63 feels like a slight, almost fragile little thing by comparison; a bit of a Lotus in watch form. The 39mm Anniversary has a real heft to it. That’s beefed up by the sapphire crystal and caseback – both much heavier than the original’s plexi and thin stainless screw-in back. There’s more weight in the case too; the original 2447 had a two-part case, made up from the main case and the caseback. The Anniversary has a separate bezel, case and back. The lugs are also a little smoother in profile than the sharp edges of the original and they really work with the case profile.
Perforated leather strap
TAG Heuer resisted giving their Anniversary watch a bracelet. Although you could buy an in-period original on a ‘beads of rice’ bracelet and there were plenty of aftermarket offers at the time, a vintage Carrera looks best on a plain Cordovan rallye strap. And although you don’t get Cordovan, you do get a plain black leather rallye with the new watch. There’s a neat touch here though; the buckle carries the original Heuer logo, just like the original.
Although it’s undoubtedly a re-interpretation rather than a recreation, there can be no question regarding this model’s parentage. And, more importantly, it sticks to Jack Heuer’s design principles. There’s no fuss and there are no fripperies, just a clear, simple dial, hands and case. And there’s a lot to like with the Cal. 02 movement. It might just be the watch Jack Heuer would design if he was working today. Although, as an adept businessman, he might just have chosen to make more than the limited 600 examples TAG Heuer plans to sell.
We’re looking forward to seeing what the firm has next for the Carrera’s 60th. We’re betting it won’t involve any mention of ‘bus passes.
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary Edition
- Reference: CBK221H.FC8317
- Case: stainless steel, diameter 39mm, water resistance 10ATM (100 metres), sapphire crystal to front; exhibition caseback.
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph
- Movement: Calibre Heuer 02, automatic movement, frequency 28,800 vph (4Hz), 33 jewels; power reserve 80 hours
- Strap: perforated black calfskin leather racing strap with pin buckle
- Price: £6,100 (RRP as of 1.2.2023)
- Limited Edition: 600 pieces