CBN2A1D.BA0643 CBN2A1E.BA0643
These two Carreras are the last two releases celebrating the 160th Anniversary of TAG Heuer and are limited to 1860 pieces of each design. At first glance they look fairly unremarkable, but on closer inspection you will notice that the date window is to be found not at the usual '6' or '4:30' positions, but up at the 12 position... right behind the red chrono hand (when it is at rest, which it usually is).
From a practical point of view this seems like an utterly bizarre idea and would surely be the source of much amusement were it not for the fact that this watch is inspired by a much sought after Heuer model. Indeed one Calibre 11 forum member who shall remain nameless* was moved to comment 'Finally! I've been missing a watch which forces you to engage the chronograph to be able to read the date'.
But who really looks at the date on a watch anyway? Well I do actually, and if there's one thing I want to be legible on a watch then it's the date - which is why I hate cyclope so much, because in my experience they do anything but make the watch easier to read! So, maybe this watch isn't for me... which is a shame because both models are quite good looking. But the important thing of course is that this watch has history behind it, and we know how important that is, right?
Leaving all that (and the resulting cluttered appearance of the upper dial) aside... these two Carreras certainly grab attention, especially the blue one with its vibrant colour scheme and large white subdials accented with red quadrant markers. I did read where someone said it looked rather too much like a ship's wheel, and while that is perhaps a little harsh I can see where they were coming from (especially with those handle-like pushers sticking out of the case!)
But on reflection, I actually think the silver/black model is the more appealing of the two, which astonishes me because silver is almost certainly my least favourite dial colour. Here it seems to work well though, perhaps because of the contrasting black ceramic bezel and sub-dials, and well TAG Heuer can't really fail with a panda dial, it's what all the kids are after these days.
So if this really is the end of the 160th Anniversary releases can we now start looking forward to the 35th Anniversary of the Formula 1 next year? I mean, without the Formula 1 we wouldn't even have the Carrera since it was the F1 which turned the company's fortunes around back in the 1980s while the Carrera was off taking a break! Fat chance of that I suppose, no doubt there will be some other Carrera related anniversary to celebrate instead, and if not we'll certainly get a space themed Carrera in 2022, you can put money on that and then of course in 2023 60 years** of all Carrera hell will break loose...!
*It was Jim Dollares
**Let's gloss over the fact that the Carrera was out of production for about 14 of those 60 years, eh?
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