TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper Watch Review
The new TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper emulates the Heuer Skipper, first released in 1968. Housed in a larger 39 mm steel case and fitted with a modern chronograph movement, the Calibre TH20-06 Automatic, this new creation exudes a winning blend of period charm and up-to-the-minute refinement. Mark McArthur-Christie, a self-confessed Heuer-devotee, examines the specification of this latest Carrera-branded model.
How to spend the kid’s inheritance?
There are many happy routes to financial ruin. The most obvious, seeing as you’re here, is watch collecting. As all of us are only too aware, the ideal number of watches one owns is always n+1. Classic cars are pretty good at regularly putting sizeable holes in your bank account too. But the single most effective way to submit your finances to the hecatombe is to buy a proper yacht.
We’re not talking about the multi-million pound floating caravans beloved by your average petrochemical oligarch. If you can land a helicopter on it, it’s a posh ferry. Proper yachts have sails, not jacuzzis or swim-up bars.
You can pick up a splendid example from those nice people at the Edmiston yacht shop. It’s called ‘Atlantic’ and is a recreation of the William Gardner-designed schooner that won the Kaiser’s Cup (New York to The Lizard) in the spring of 1905. It is utterly beautiful, the oceangoing equivalent of a Bentley 4 ½ litre, and costs €12,000,000. On top of that, the mooring and running costs will probably be significant multiples of the average UK annual salary. See what I mean about ruin?
TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper – a more accessible option
Alternatively, how about getting all the bragging rights that come from apparent yacht ownership but without the wallet-immolating cost? If that’s the case, TAG Heuer’s new yacht timer is for you. It’ll set you back just short of £6,000 – about the same as an evening’s bar bill for the average yacht crew.
Heuer yacht timers
TAG Heuer has form when it comes to yacht timers. The original Heuer-era range split between utility yacht timers that you’d never mistake for anything else and the sort of thing you could wear in the yacht club bar once you’d moored up. The former made no secret of their evolution from handheld stopwatches. The ref. 33.512 and 3912 even had onion crowns at 12 o’clock, just like a pocket watch.
If you fancied something a little more elegant on your wrist while you sipped your post-race pink gin, Heuer let you choose how you’d like to time your yacht. You could have a watch with large subdials and different coloured segments for the five-minute countdowns that precede a yacht race, or a series of portholes on the dial that changed colour as time ticked down to the start. These were Regate watches (with portholes) and the Skipper (with dials).
TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper – celebrating the Carrera’s 60th anniversary
The firm from La Chaux-de-Fonds has been successfully raiding its back catalogue this year in celebration of the Carrera’s 60th anniversary. And the new Skipper is, like the Atlantic, a modern recreation of its ancestor.
Although later versions of the Skipper used the Autavia case (it was easier to waterproof), the very first examples in 1968 (of which only around 300 were made) were based on the celebrated 7753 Carrera chronograph with a modified Valjoux 7730 movement to allow for a yachting countdown timer. It’s this version of the Skipper that’s the inspiration for the new watch.
TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper – new 39 mm case
Although the original 36 mm Carrera case has been bumped up to 39 mm for the new watch, the extra chunk is a virtue rather than a fault. Original 1960s Carreras, by modern standards, can feel a little insubstantial; almost delicate. This new watch, by comparison, feels weighty and solid. The crown and pushers are beefed up too, the latter now fared into the case sides. Perhaps surprisingly, the crown doesn’t screw down but no matter – there’s still 100 m of water resistance.
Another significant difference is the crystal. TAG Heuer has already used what it calls ‘the Glassbox’ on other Carrera derivatives and it’s been put into service here too. As it arches over the dial, it allows the outer minute track to push up underneath it and still remain clearly visible. Despite being a hefty 3 mm thick, it gives the dial a real sense of air and space.
TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper – dial
But more than case design, yacht timers are about their dials and the movements behind them. The feature that marks out this sort of yacht timer is the 15-minute subdial, marked down into five-minute segments.
Because yachts can’t simply sit on a grid and wait for the action to kick off, getting to the start line at just the right time is the most important part of the race. There’s a series of flags, timings and signals that lead up to crossing the start line. Get it right – aided by your yacht timer – and you’ll be ahead of your fellow racers.
OK, so in the real world, most people buying a Skipper will probably get no nearer a racing yacht than parking their car on the Normandie on the way to Caen, but that’s not the point. Not only is the Skipper’s dial gorgeous to look at, its chronograph function is downright useful whether you pay mooring fees or not. In the best tradition of clear-dialled Heuer chronos, this one lets you time all the way up to 12 hours.
The central chrono seconds looks after the first minute, then the yacht timer subdial at 3 takes over, timing the next fifteen minutes. After that, because the hour subdial at 9 is calibrated in quarter hour intervals, you simply add minutes to quarters and seconds. There’s a neat trick on the yacht timer dial; although, like a conventional chrono minutes, it counts up, because of its reversed scale, you measure elapsed time as a countdown.
The original Heuer Skipper used a running seconds at 9 with its yacht timer at 3; there was no 6 o’clock subdial. The new watch adds a running seconds at 6 but preserves the feel of the original by using tiny white ticks to indicate 15-second intervals and orange ticks for five. There’s no outer track to the subdial or any differentiating background, so the dial almost disappears unless you’re looking for it, giving you the best of both worlds.
The hour, minute and subdial hands are all rhodium-plated for corrosion-resistance and brightness with the former infilled with Super-LumiNova. Classic Heuer clarity again – the orange chrono second hand matches the colour of the last third of the yacht timer subdial. Then the orange tips of the hour and minute hands work with the orange markers at the end of each hour baton.
Unlike the original Skipper, there’s a date on the new watch. Not quite as determinedly focused on yacht racing, but rather more useful for most people. If you’re a proper yachtie you’ll not be worrying about whether or not your watch has a date when you’re over at 20 degrees of lean and ragging along at 25 knots, mind.
TAG Heuer Calibre TH20-06 Automatic
With regard to the movement, the Skipper uses the Calibre TH20-06 Automatic. It’s a bi-directional automatic (unlike its predecessor, which only wound one way), with 33 jewels and an 80 hour power reserve. If you’re scampering about on deck and ducking booms, it won’t take long to get that fully wound. It beats at a modern standard 28,800 vph. There’s a gearing tweak to the 3 o’clock register to have it run as a 15-minute, rather than a 30-minute, counter. Chrono functions are controlled via a column wheel, so starting, stopping and resetting are all smooth and snicky.
The Calibre TH20-06 is a good-looking thing too, without being in any sense fussy. The bridges have Côtes de Genève and some anglage, with the cutaway, ball-bearing rotor getting the same treatment. Apart from that, the finishing is tight and well done rather than ornamental.
TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper – closing thoughts
There are plenty of changes with this latest version of the Skipper. It is bigger, heavier and has a completely different (and, let’s face it, far more accurate and finely-tuned) movement. The dial has thicker, longer hands. Tritium has been ditched for Super Lumi-Nova and the brand has replaced plexi with that lovely ‘Glassbox’ sapphire.
Clearly, this new watch isn’t the focused, single-minded racing tool that its ancestor was. But – in the real world again – how many people race ocean yachts and use a mechanical timer rather than a GPS system to get to the start line? Even the Atlantic has ditched its original 400hp steam engine for a modern Yanmar and no one’s complaining.
Yet none of this removes the romance of ocean yachting, the echo of the earlier Skipper or the sheer delight in a watch that’s well-designed and well-built with a fascinating heritage.
This might just be my favourite Carrera recreation yet. The problem is, if I buy one, how am I going to save the rest of the €11,993,150 for the yacht to go with it?
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper
- Reference: CBS2213.FN6002
- Case: polished steel, diameter 39 mm, water resistance 10 ATM (100 metres), sapphire crystal to front, exhibition caseback.
- Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date, chronograph
- Movement: Calibre TH20-06 automatic, frequency 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 33 jewels, power reserve 80 hours
- Strap: blue fabric strap. Polished steel folding clasp with double safety push buttons
- Price: £5,900 (RRP as of 13.7.2023)