TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds Watch Review
The TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds is an ultra-refined creation incorporating 4.8 carats of lab-grown diamonds. US-based Meehna Goldsmith provides an overview of this latest timepiece to wear the shield and gives an insight into the making of lab-grown diamonds.
TAG Heuer depuis 1860
TAG Heuer has enjoyed an association with sport since the 1880s. That’s when Edouard Heuer started producing pocket chronographs to time all types of races, including those on roads, cinder running tracks and over water. TAG Heuer may not be the first brand you think of when it comes to full-blown diamond watches; however, it has just released an extraordinary gem-set creation deserving of your attention.
TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde – introduction
Jewellery watches are usually delicate and sparkly affairs. Wrapped around the wrist, they’re meant to pose and be admired. If any sport or rough treatment is expected, the watch is best kept at home safely tucked up within its case. But, we’re talking about TAG Heuer here. And this new Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds is ready to tackle any environment without breaking a sweat, whether on a runway or racetrack.
Taking the Carrera Date as its platform, the Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde comes dressed in 4.8 carats of diamonds, including 1.4 carats of coveted yellow diamonds. What sets all these diamonds apart is their creation. Instead of being born from the earth’s mantle, they are grown in a lab, with the unique yellow colour created by TAG Heuer. This isn’t TAG Heuer’s first foray into lab diamonds. Last year, it presented the same model with its proprietary pink diamonds.
What are lab-grown diamonds?
Right about now you’re probably asking, what are lab-grown diamonds and how do they compare to natural diamonds? Lab-grown diamonds are created through two methods: High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT), which mimics what happens in the Earth’s mantle, and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). TAG Heuer’s Plasma technology is based on CVD. Through this method a seed diamond is placed in a small vacuum chamber filled with heated hydrogen and carbon-containing gases. Upon reaching a certain temperature, the gas molecules break down, allowing for layers of crystallised carbon to grow into a gem-sized diamond.
Do lab-grown diamonds look the same as natural diamonds?
Lab-created diamonds are made up of carbon atoms in the characteristic diamond crystal structure, just the same as natural diamonds. They are therefore constructed of the same material and show all the same optical and chemical properties. To the naked eye, lab-grown diamonds are indistinguishable from natural diamonds. Only a trained scientist using a microscope could spot the telltale growth patterns that signify a diamond has been conceived in a lab.
Creating lab diamonds is already a technological feat, but injecting them with colour brings an even higher level of difficulty. A colourless and flawless diamond demands perfection within the atomic structure. To create a coloured diamond requires introducing chaos which must be harnessed to a pre-determined result. As TAG Heuer puts it, “This intentional disruption can take the form of incorporating atoms from diverse elements or introducing unique features, such as the absence of certain carbon atoms.” The Plasma technology stands out with its beautiful diffusion of uniform colour throughout the yellow diamonds. You see the rich hue in the stunning 1.3-carat yellow diamond in the crown, as well as on the yellow diamond cut into the brand’s shield, just under the Carrera signature in the top half of the dial.
TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds – details
To mark the time, skeletonised hands sculpted in 18K gold circle round the polycrystalline dial paved with 2.9-carats of lab-grown diamonds. Each of the 12 white gold indexes features white baguette-cut lab diamonds weighing 0.5 carats. The TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds comes in a 36 mm white gold case, which affixes to the wrist with a white alligator strap, secured with a white gold pin buckle. Running the show is the Calibre 7, which can be seen through the sapphire case back.
TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds – closing remarks
TAG Heuer prides itself on innovation and pushing the boundaries. The Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde with yellow diamonds follows this philosophy, presenting a diamond watch with flare and style in a sporty package. The watch is a high-octane piece that provides a sparkle of diamonds without exploiting the earth or humans. Indeed, while natural diamonds take between 1 billion and 3.3 billion years to form, lab diamonds take about 6-10 weeks. It’s a demonstration of TAG Heuer’s technicity all wrapped up in a scintillating package.
