![]() In designing the Carrera in 1963, Jack Heuer created something that was entirely his, and is without question the chronograph that is most associated with the brand today. The Autavia was purpose-built for racers and pilots, and attracted the attention of Formula 1 racers and devotees such as Jochen Rindt and Steve McQueen. In its place he launched the line of Autavia wrist chronographs, the first line of chronographs produced by Heuer to be named, rather than simply numbered. He had first tried his hand with the Autavia, which at the time of his succession was a stopwatch with a virtually illegible dial. Jack Heuer, a longtime racing aficionado, saw an opportunity to revitalize - or at the very least, to reexamine - the company’s already-successful line of chronographs. Starting in 1911, when the sport of automobile racing was still in its infancy, the company produced dashboard clocks for cars, boats, and even airplanes. The Heuer name was not unknown in motor racing and aviation circles. His chosen path? Moving into a line of technical instruments for use in sporting and transportation applications. But in 1962, the responsibility of running the company fell on his shoulders, and he found himself faced with the daunting task of safeguarding his ancestor’s legacy while at the same time forging his own. He had already played a role in the design of some timepieces, starting with the Solunar in the late 1940s. In 1962, Jack Heuer inherited the company that his great-grandfather had founded in Saint-Imier nearly a century before. It’s a cool relic from a very specific period in modern watchmaking, and one we don’t see too many of. Paired to the watch is a stainless steel, multi-link bracelet with a signed deployant clasp.ĭating to the early 2010s, this Carrera is from a time when TAG Heuer was taking big risks, designing chronographs unlike any the watch world had ever seen. COSC-certified, it’s visible via a sapphire display caseback. Said technology, by the way, is the TAG Heuer Calibre 16, an automatic chronograph based on the architecture of none other than the famed Zenith El Primero family of movements. It features a luminous blue dial with applied ‘doorstop’ indices and a matching handset, and a sophisticated chronograph with a ‘caliper’ scale that allows one to measure elapsed 1/10ths of a second. ![]() Innovative and bold, it’s housed in a 43mm stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal, a signed crown, ribbed pushers, a signed, red crown for the inner bezel, and a steel tachymeter bezel. ![]() ![]() The Grand Carrera Calibre 36 Caliper Chronograph that we have here, however, is a long way off from those simple, early chronographs envisioned in the early 1960s. However, in the mid-1990s TAG Heuer realized that its classic designs still held value in the commercial market, and decided to re-release two watches: the square-cased Monaco and the Carrera. In the 1980s, after Heuer was bought by Techniques Avant Garde (TAG), the Carrera line was discontinued. The original ran from the 1960s to the 1980s, its look shifting slightly as trends changed, ultimately taking on the cushion case design and automatic movements of the late 1960s and 1970s. Jack wanted a watch that was stylish and functional - a watch that gives you everything you need, and nothing you don’t. The Carrera was one of Jack Heuer’s most important passion projects, the design ethos for which can be summed up in one word: legibility. ![]()
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