ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Panamericana Rallye Limited Edition Tourbillon

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 15th March 2025

When I walked into the Meadowhall boutique a couple of weeks ago it never for one second entered my head that they might have the TAG Heuer x Porsche Carrera Panamerican Rallye Tourbillon in stock. Not for one second! With only 255 pieces worldwide, I figured this would much more likely be found in the flagship Oxford Street store down in London, but after looking at the new blue dial Solargraph I turned around and there it was. Crikey!

I suppose given my surprise I should have been more excited, but honestly I wasn't actually that fussed. Nevertheless I decided I ought to at least have a look and see how it felt to wear a £30,000 Porsche tourbillon on the wrist and, well... yeah. It's okay I guess.

My feelings about the glassbox Carrera are well established by now (which is probably not good for me, because I can imagine there's going to be plenty more of the bloody things and probably starting tomorrow on the first day of Watches & Wonders 2025), at least this one is in the 42mm case so it doesn't look like a child's toy on my 7.1/2" wrist.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer x Porsche Carrera Chronosprint Rallye Limited Edition by Doug FNJ

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer x Porsche Carrera Chronosprint Rallye

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / Milton Keynes, 1st February 2025

On the same day that I got to try on the first three new Formula 1 Calibre 16 Chronographs, I was also able to get my hands on this recent limited edition Porsche Carrera Chronosprint Rallye. Limited to 911 pieces (because, Porsche) and coming in at a hefty £8950 this one costs a notable £900 more than the original (unlimited) Porsche Chronosprint.

Oddly, despite 'knowing' that this is a 42mm model, I still had to check with the guy in the boutique because it just doesn't look it. Once I put it against one of the 39mm models in the case I could see the difference, but even with a bracelet this watch wears nothing like a 42mm. I'm not crazy about the bracelet actually, it looks like a slightly melted version of the old Grand Carrera bracelet and just like those it has no micro adjustment, which is a shame in a watch at this price point. Saying that I've never had a problem with my Grand Carreras just using the half links, so it's probably not a massive dealbreaker. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche Limited Edition by Monochrome Watches

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer x Porsche Carrera Chronosprint Rallye

 

Before I start this post, I just want to apologize in advance to anyone who gets irritated by my use of the words Rally and Rallye... I tried to clarify which means what but it's very confusing. I figured maybe it's 'Rally Straps' but then I found loads of perforated straps called 'Rallye Straps'. Google AI suggests 'Rallye' indicates a motor race rather than a political 'Rally', but then elsewhere it's suggested that 'Rallye' is the plural of 'Rally' or indeed it might just be the French way of spelling 'Rally' (which obviously makes it sound much more luxurious). Anyway, sorry 'bout that...!

Believe it or not, someone on the THF Forum has already backed the Porsche Chronosprint Rallye for the '2025 COCO Watch of the Year'! Quite a statement when we're barely a third of the way through February... but let us not forget that the very first release of 2023 was the Carrera 60th Anniversary Panda, which absolutely annihilated the competition on its way to securing the crown.

But then the 'Panda' was always going to be a sure fire winner, which is precisely why it was the last of the old style 'glassbox' Carreras... and honestly why it was strange that it was one of the first new style 'glassbox' Carreras. After all, the watch industry very much operates on a policy of 'never quite give the people what they want because we might be able to sell them something else in the meantime'. 

Once you give them what they want, the theory goes, the customer is satisfied and will stop buying. Well, I don't know about that... most watch collectors will tend to find something 'else' they want regardless, but I suppose the principle is sound. 

Anyhoo... following on from my 'Top 10 TAG Heuer x Porsche' watch post a few weeks back, here we have two more to add to the collection... if they are in contention for the WOTY come December I wonder which one will come out on top, or will they split the vote allowing something else to sneak past like some sort of horological Kimi Raikkonnen. 🤣

FEATURE: TAG Heuer x Porsche - The Collaboration Watches (2021-2024)

 

You know, it really doesn't seem five minutes since TAG Heuer announced they were teaming up with Porsche, and already we're four years into this partnership with ten references on the books! How did that happen? Oh well...never mind. The great thing is that because all these watches have been scored by the COCO council previously we have all the info we need to do a top ten countdown! 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche 963' Calibre TH20-00 Limited Edition Chronograph

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 30th November 2024 

Way back in September last year (IIRC) I visited the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall Centre only to find I'd missed the Carrera Extreme Sports Porsche 963 by a mere 48 hours. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it had come back into stock on my last visit... especially as we know it is limited to just 963 pieces worldwide. 

As I've mentioned previously, I find myself rather perturbed by this new Carrera line. On the face of it the daring, avant garde designs should be right up my alley, but somehow I find them a little hard to warm to. At least partly to blame are the strange looking rubber straps, with this faux integrated look that while admittedly practical, also feels very 'faux' indeed.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche Panamericana' Glassbox Tourbillon L/E Chronograph

 

I've now lost count of all the Porsche branded TAG Heuer watches we've seen over the last few years, I want to say it was 10 or 11 prior to this, but I'm not 100% sure. Seems like the time is ripe for a 'Feature' post detailing them all, don't you think? Well, I'll get on it, but for now we have a new (and perhaps slightly controversial) new steel cased tourbillon co-branded with both Porsche and Panamericana; after the famous rally held in the early 1950s.

The watch itself is hardly 'retro' in its styling, but it does take 'inspiration' from the Porsche 550 which competed in said rally; mainly the yellow of the racing numerals used on the car for the hands, the wheels which are the basis of the unique-to-this-watch open dial design and the paint finish which has inspired the speckled look found on both the subdials and the main dial - a unique touch for sure. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche 963'

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By my reckoning this is the eighth 'Porsche' branded watch to emerge from the partnership between TAG Heuer and the German automotive manufacturer... and with the 'Orange Lava Racing' Carrera being my watch of the year for 2023 this one has a little bit of an uphill battle to fight if it wants to win me over. But first impressions are good. At £8050 this one is rather expensive, but it looks it - though I still don't like all that empty space at the 12 position; to my eyes the TAG Heuer shield looks a little lost, even with the 'steering wheel' framework behind it. 

But I do like the carbon bezel, the 'Porsche' engraving in the side of the case and the 'integrated' looking strap is interesting; albeit it turns out that the integration is something of an illusion, since what looks like the middle 'titanium' section (where it says '963') is actually part of the strap. But maybe that's a good thing since it allows you to use regular alternative straps and also allows you to remove the '963' if that's not to your taste.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche Chronosprint' Chronograph by Monochrome Watches

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche 'Chronosprint' Calibre TH20-08 Chronograph

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TAG Heuer Boutique / London, 28th October 2023

You know, I may not have mentioned it before, but I really don't like the 39mm glassbox Carreras. But the 42mm ones aren't so bad and this one in particular is actually not bad at all. I've definitely said before that you will never really know if you like a watch until you get it on your wrist, and in this case that is 100% true. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy the gimmicky/clever (delete as applicable) chronograph on this one being that I am a miserable old man with no soul, but damn me if it wasn't rather entertaining. Kind of... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche 2.7' Heuer 02 Limited Edition Chronograph by Swiss Watch Expo

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Sports 'Porsche' Heuer 02 Limited Edition Chronograph by WatchBox Reviews

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche Chronosprint' Calibre TH20-08 Chronograph

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If you've been around for more than a couple of years you will probably remember TAG Heuer's previous motorsport collaboration with Aston Martin. That was a bit light on product with only a Formula 1, a  couple of Heuer 01 Carreras (one of which was only available if you bought a specific Aston Martin) and a Heuer 02T Tourbillon emerging before the companies went their separate ways. If I remember correctly this was because Aston Martin stopped sponsoring the Red Bull Formula 1 team, which paved the way for a new love-in with Porsche (who TAG Heuer were already working with in Formula E). 

Of course, Red Bull Racing now seem to be getting in to bed with Ford, so it remains to be seen what happens to the Porsche tie-in in the next few years. Regardless, the TAG Heuer/Porsche collaboration has already produced more watches than the TAG/AM partnership ever did, with these two representing watches number six and seven to date.

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche Special Edition by Time & Tide

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Sports 'Porsche' Special Edition Heuer 02 Chronograph

 

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Oxford Street, London 13th May 2023

When this one came out back in early February, it seemed just a little bit underwhelming. At first glance it was a bit of an 'oh yes, just like the yellow one they did before... but orange' kinda deal; but seeing it in person for the first time was a whole different story. Wow, this one is pretty amazing. Now granted I never actually got to see the yellow one in person, the closest I came was being told they had it out the back in reserve for someone (that was in the Derby TAG Heuer boutique - but it was my first time there and they didn't offer to get it out of the safe for me), and if I had maybe this would have had less impact, but even so this is quite a special Carrera.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche Special Edition' Heuer 02 Chronograph

 

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When TAG Heuer announced they would be teaming up with Porsche a few years ago there was much approval rippling through the THF Forum... at least until the first watch arrived. I quite liked it and one THF forum member actually bought one, but generally speaking there was a LOT of negativity towards it. Partly this was because of the 44mm diameter of the Carrera Sports case (yawn), but also because it wasn't nearly as 'retro' looking as people hoped (quelle surprise). 

Then last year they brought out a new version accented in yellow and the people who didn't like the first one liked it even less! In fact the yellow version scored almost a full half mark less than the first version in the end of year 'WOTY' poll. But, out in the real world, the yellow Carrera sold out quickly and the only time I got close to seeing one was when I visited a TAG Heuer boutique in Nottingham and was told they had one out the back awaiting collection by it's new owner.

FEATURE: A Look Back at TAG Heuer 2022 - Part 2 (featuring Jim Dollares)

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to the second part of Jim and I's look back over the TAG Heuer releases of 2022. If you haven't already read part one, click the link below:

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2022/11/feature-look-back-at-tag-heuer-2022-so.html

ROB: Hey Jim, where should we begin with this second part of our chat?

JIM: Well I think I would like to start by hearing your opinion on a watch that could have been great, but left me with a feeling of 'meh'. A watch that has been out for some time now but we see very little of out in the wild. I am speaking of course about the new 43mm Aquaracer GMT.

ROB: Yeah... you know I was really, really, really excited about that one. Like I was genuinely saving for it at one point, months before the release... debating between the bracelet and the cool blue rubber strap, but then I finally saw it in a store and it was like. Wow. Okay... there ain't no way I am buying that. 

It was such a disappointment in the hand. I really thought that blue and white bezel was gonna look absolutely top billy-bollocks and in reality... I didn't like it at all. In fact, if I had to choose between the three Aquaracer GMTs (Pepsi, Batman and... what nickname did we give the blue and white again? The whale, was it? That clearly didn't catch on!) I would 100% go with the Batman first, the Pepsi a distant second and the blue and white not even in the running. And it's so weird because the new Aquaracer is clearly an improvement on the old one technically and yet I am yet to find one I really want to buy.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 'Porsche Gold' Limited Edition Chronograph

 
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TAG Heuer Boutique, Sheffield, 12th November 2022

It's always a pleasure to visit Meadowhall's splendid TAG Heuer boutique, but in all honesty I wasn't really expecting to find much in the way of 'new stock' to look at. After all, it's not that long since I visited the Milton Keynes boutique and tried on the new F1s; but I was (perhaps naively) hopeful of finding a Solargraph in store (which turned out to be a non starter without a deposit). 

However it transpired that not one but two unexpected watches were lurking in the cabinets - well I say lurking; as usual one of them was right at the front of the store and I had walked straight past it on my way in! 

The first was the 'Year of the Rabbit' Carrera which I posted about a few days ago and the second was the red/gold limited edition 'Porsche Carrera', something I didn't honestly think I would ever see, and certainly not north of the Oxford Street boutique!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche 2.7' Limited Editions by Time & Tide