ON THE WRIST: Carrera 'Black Mother of Pearl' Limited Edition Calibre 16 Chronograph

CV201P-0.BA0794

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 16th July 2018

Here's something you don't see everyday, indeed when I heard that Bicester had one of these in stock I made tracks to check it out for myself. This model is a limited edition for the Japanese market (300 I believe) and features a black mother of pearl dial. In truth though, it's not really black, it's more of a grey colour. But as you can see from the three pictures I've posted here it has a chameleon quality to it and looks completely different when the light hits it at different angles.

I'm not really a massive 'classic' Carrera fan if I'm honest, I feel about them kind of the same way I feel about the classic Monacos, they are nice enough, but for the money there's always something else I'd much rather buy. But having said that, I did think this was rather special, and well worth the effort to see. It's a 41mm but I actually thought it might be a 39mm when I had it on my wrist. It is reasonably thick though, which can also create the illusion of a smaller diameter.

Inside it's a Calibre 16 as you can probably tell from the dial layout, but the star of the show is undoubtedly the dial. It really is quite spectacular and when you think about it, can you name another men's model with a mother of pearl dial? There surely must be one, but I can't think of an example.

One other thing worthy of note is the bezel which is very highly polished and renders the usefulness of the Tachymetre somewhat null and void, but then this watch is clearly about looks before function, and who actually uses a Tachymetre anyway? With such a mirror polish finish, you are sure to be wiping fingermarks off the bezel, but it didn't seem to pick up as bad as some of the ceramic bezels I've tried on recently (they really are an absolute nightmare).

The bracelet is a five piece with small polished links either side of the centre links. It looks very classy and is the perfect choice for this piece I think. I guess you could put this on a strap, but I don't think it would look quite as good. With this one you definitely want all the focus to be on that fantastic dial, and while the small polished links do create a smidgeon of secondary interest, they don't take away from the main attraction.

Since my visit I've also seen this in the York Outlet store as well, the price is £2730, which seems very fair for a very unusual and limited edition version of an otherwise classic design.