FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T 'Cortina' Limited Edition

CAR5A8F.FC6478

You may remember last year's 'Cortina' Limited Edition; I thought that was pretty neat with one of the coolest watch straps I've ever seen and the design carried over onto the case as well. This time they've gone down a slightly more conventional route, but still managed to come up with something striking and individual for the ten piece run.

Admittedly it's not going to be to everyone's taste; I thought it was pretty cool, but my wife made a face at the strap and when pushed she said it resembled a '1970s leather jacket'! I guess it does have a slight whiff of 'Starsky and Hutch' about it in these photos, but maybe the orange is a bit less 'brown' in real life...

Fortuitous then that Cortina have included with the watch a second black alligator strap, for those days when you want to be a little less brash, whilst still leaving the subtler orange details on the dial, tourbillon and pushers so that those in the know will still be able to tell that this isn't just any old Carrera tourbillon; and of course that stylish orange rotor would also give the game away should the watch be off your wrist at the time.

Thinking about it like that then, this could be the ideal 'orange' Carrera Tourbillon for those who liked the CAR5A96 but found the orange lume on that watch's batons and hands a step too far; and actually I'd be interested to know if the additional strap they are providing is the FC6462 from that model which had orange stitching, if so that would look very nice indeed!

The CAR5A8F is available only from 'Cortinawatch.online' who are a jeweller based in Singapore, at a price of SGD26,000 (which equates to about £14700). This watch is 45mm in diameter with a 65 hour power reserve and 100M of water resistance (though you might want to swap it onto a rubber strap if you're intending to take this one swimming).

Overall I think Cortina have come up with another very cool watch, and I think it's even better that they are providing the option of a subtler alternate strap in the price. That's definitely something that all watch manufacturers should be looking at going forward, alongside increasing their warranty periods.