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

 

CBN2A1M.FC6526

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.

Photo by Abrod520

So here we are twelve months later and what do we have but another 44mm Carrera Sports Porsche, this time trading yellow for orange. Kinda the same, but even more so. And by that I mean even more orange. Maybe actually a little bit too much orange. Because, oddly enough I always thought the previous yellow version was pretty 'in your face'... at least until I saw a picture of the two side by side and all of a sudden the yellow one looked rather subdued.

Crazy to say but it's true, cos TAG Heuer have gone nuts with the orange here: orange on the crown, orange second hand, orange around the dial and each subdial, orange tips on two of the subdial hands and orange markings inside those subdials, not to mention the orange 'Porsche' logo on the bezel and the excessive orange stitching on the strap!

Photo by @ericcccccth

It's a LOT, as the kids say these days. And while I might prefer the (lava) orange to the yellow (I haven't quite made my mind up on that one yet...) I still think there's a bit too much going on here. I think losing the orange circles around the subdials would have gone a long way to toning this down and would have allowed the subdials to blend in better with the main dial (as seen previously on the yellow version).

And I'm still not crazy about using those lumed minute numerals when they can't fit ALL of them onto the dial. As I believe I said last year, they look great on my titanium Calibre 16 Carrera (all twelve of them) but not so great here with three of them missing. 

Photo by @ericcccccth

I'd like to say I'm looking forward to seeing one of these in-store since unlike it's predecessor it's not a 'limited edition' as such. However, from what I understand the boutiques are getting maybe one each and like anything with Porsche written on it these will be an easy sell. Maybe I can find one in London when I visit in May... I guess it depends what 'Special Edition' actually means. I bet they look quite cool in the flesh; the 44mm Carrera Sports models wear smaller than the diameter suggests anyway and clad in black should appear even less cumbersome on the wrist. 

The CBN2A1M is currently on offer on the TAG Heuer website priced at £5850, which is only £50 more than the rather unloved 'Year of the Rabbit' Carrera. And also, I notice, you can still pick up the original (and somewhat understated in comparison) CBN2A1F Porsche Carrera 44mm in steel and black with red accents and a dark grey 'asphalt' textured dial on a bracelet or a bespoke strap. 

Okay, let's find out what the COCO Council thinks of this one...

CBN2A1M.FC6526: 6.1/10

(145.5 / 24 = 6.06 Rounded up to 6.1)

3/10: "I love the orange & black combo, but not the way it has been implemented in this version, with too many orange circles on the dial and being too busy. For me it is the worst of the Porsche collaborations up to now."

3/10: "A 44m monster. Nothing new to see here and arguably the worst colour scheme and design for a Porsche edition so far."

4/10: "A strong 4 from me. My favourite of these 44mm Porsche watches is the first asphalt dial one."

5/10: "Looks better than the yellow, although for me I dislike the use of those minute markers."

5/10: "A few little orange accents, okay (like a seconds hand for example), but this is too much orange for me. And it's too big."

5/10: "Likely to be forgotten."

6/10: "Kinda sorta like it. Looks better in certain pictures, not as good in others. But the dial has too many orange circles within orange circles. Hence I would never consider buying one. I prefer last year's yellow racing Porsche watch over this one."

 

6/10: "Orange and black is nice. Also the strap is awesome... But I don't like those inflated subdials. And the dial is very busy."

6.5/10: "I'm conflicted with this watch. I do like it a lot. Great case, great movement, lumed hour markers and I like orange watches! However, there is just something niggling me about the dial and I don't know what is. I think it's the orange surround on the subdials for me. I hate to say this but it almost makes it look cheap!"

7/10: "I'm not a fan of this type of strap but it does complement the watch case and dial perfectly in this case."

7/10: "This seems like a fun and modern collab, I could see this on the wrist of a lot of Porsche owners. It doesn’t scream ‘buy me’ like the Carrera RS, but Id probably end up wearing it day to day if I did."

7/10: "I like the vertical brushing on the dial (which further distinguishes it from the earlier versions). I would have preferred the running seconds subdial without the outer, orange ring."

7.5/10: "I like everything about it except for the size. My favorite color combination of this model to date."

7.5/10: "Well, I like this one-ok, price not so much. Couldn’t quite decide to hit the 8, maybe if I get the chance to try it on that might change."

8/10: "I can only dream of a Porsche Carrera but I’d give this one an 8/10. Bump to 8.5 if it was red."

8/10: "Orange looks more attractive than yellow. I look forward to the Porsche series coming out in the future. Last year's 73 Carrera was a good highlight."

8/10: "I found I like it quite a bit. More than the yellow one this feels a bit more cohesive as a design, the black and red working well together. I’m personally not a fan of the ‘stopwatch’ dials with 60-second (or minute) markers and I agree the implementation of the tachy scale markers is a bit too similar to the dial minute track. But I could easily see myself picking one of these up for fun if I had the extra cash."

9/10: "I've seen the real one in steel. it was good. i would gave it 8. I probably liked it more than the yellow. Okay make it 9/10 then. That's my final offer."