It's always interesting to see watches that are released in specific markets like this one, even if sometimes it's hard to grasp the relevance of the accompanying marketing. Case in point is this new 'Japanese' limited edition 42mm Carrera chronograph. Seeing the '24' up there on the dial you might immediately assume that this model is connected to motor racing somehow, even more so given the obvious similarities with last year's 'Team Ikuzawa' release.
But you'd be wrong. The '24' in question doesn't relate to a 24 hour motor race, but in fact the 24 'solar terms' which apparently reference nature's seasonal cycle.
"24 Sekki" or 24 Solar Terms are traditional ways of expressing seasons in Japan and China. Each term is defined by the ecliptic longitude of the Sun (λ). For example, "Shunbun" is the time when the longitude of the Sun becomes 0°, and "Shuubun" is when the longitude becomes 180°.
I'll be honest and say I've never heard of this before, and while it's fairly meaningless to me I'm sure for the intended market it makes sense.
So I can only really observe this from an aesthetic point of view, and here's where it gets a little tricky. If you remember when the 'Team Ikuzawa' watch came out, at first it looked a little odd with its one red sub dial. But then when you related that to the Japanese flag, it made sense and over time I got used to it and indeed rather liked it. But now suddenly having two red subdials (well they actually kind of look way pinker than the Ikuzawa) it looks a little odd...
Obviously it looks more symmetrical, which I'm sure will please a lot of people, and maybe if I'd never seen the previous model it wouldn't bother me so much. But I have and it does. Don't get me wrong, it's still a pleasant looking watch, but the 'Team Ikuzawa' Carrera is just way cooler, and to be honest I can relate more to motor racing than seasonal cycles.
The watch is limited to 240 pieces. Because... 24 with a 0 on the end is 240. Genius, right? Let's see if the Council of Considered Opinion think so...
7.5/10: "I love the red subdials against the pure white dial, however they look almost pink which is not a bad thing, just confusing!?"
5.5/10 : "I like the clean and crisp dial design."
2.4/10: "It looks like the evil ugly twin of the Ikuzawa, which doesn’t work in symmetrical guise. Just because I also hate the stupidity of using random multiples of the number 24, I am going to give this a 2.4/10!"
8/10: "I don't think it's bad to be honest. I just didn't know why it looks pink on the render and red on the real steel."
6/10: "Coming a year after the Ikuzawa, this watch feels like a lazy effort from TAG. It lacks the finer details that made the Ikuzawa very appealing and instead has a 24 with questionable meaning. I'd be more impressed with the marketing if there was a famous Japanese 24-hour endurance race, but the 24 solar terms of seasonal change? Yeah, right. 😕
4/10: "Not cohesive enough for me."
7.5/10: "Nice, bright, clear dial and the red subdials are sharp accents. Just not sold on the "24" on the dial, since it has to do with the calendar and not hours in a day."
4/10: "This one seems washed out except for the two jarring subdials."
3/10: "Gaaah, why the shitters so often. A solid 3 from me."
6/10: "Similar to the Ikuzawa model, but I like the Ikuzawa (8.5/10) much more, so this one is just a 6/10 for me. Again a lazy “One of 240” not properly numbered LE 😏…"
5/10: "Average TAG Heuer."
4/10: "This watch really looks like the Ikuzawa model. The Japanese flag is white and red, so it can't be helped that it looks similar. But I'm not sure what 24 means. It's not very cool, so it's not highly evaluated."
6/10: "That 24 ruins it for me. Same thing happened with the Gulf Monaco from 2 years ago."
4/10: "Not sure about this one…4/10 for me."
4/10: "Interesting. Nice. Not sure it quite works fully. Would prefer the colours the other way round (pink dial, white subdial). So they've used 24 as a special number, so I presume that's why there are 240 pieces. But that annoys me. 240 has nothing to do with the number 24 except that it's exactly divisible by 10 (not a special number). If they truly believed 24 was so important, they'd make 24 of them, not 240."
4/10: "I dig it, but I think the sub dials are a little too pink for me."
4/10: "It has 2 tiny pink eyes."
4/10: "Been there, seen it, it feels like, silly tinted rear glass, why? Nothing new or exciting."
4/10: "This certainly must be a record year in terms of new LEs, right…? I don’t get the 24 at 12h and overall find it rather uninspired 🙁 4/10 (et je suis gentil)."
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