As part of the 60th Anniversary celebrations for the Carrera, Nicholas Biebuyck (heritage director at TAG Heuer) has written a large-scale book detailing the history of the model. Most excitingly for me it also contains a large number of illustrated references showing many of the pieces right back from the start and up until 2023, with pieces such as the CBN5A91 Plasma and even the Porsche Chronosprint (albeit unfortunately in that particular case the dial design changed between the book being finalised and the watch being released).
It's a stunning looking book, satisfyingly large in size and weight and while I'm sure I will read the first half of the book eventually, my main interest was of course the guide to references contained in the latter half of the book. As most of you will know, I have been working on my 'History of the Carrera' posts for a very long time and as a new (and official) resource this was prime fodder for finding references that might thus far have slipped through the net.
And so one Sunday evening I printed my list and set about cross referencing from the book. It was helpful, providing release years for each model, albeit my list contained multiple references for each 'head' as I have noted each strap variation and the book doesn't. I don't have a problem with this really as it keeps the book to a reasonable size (and price), however... once I finished my task it became evident that there were more than a few watch heads on my list that weren't included in the book.
There were a few references in the book that weren't already on my list, but these were mostly high-end pieces that are contained in the 'Masterpieces' catalogue (which I haven't dredged yet), so I would have found them eventually. There were also a couple of oddities that I definitely hadn't come across, like the Franco Baresi limited edition CS3111 of 1999 and a diamond bezel Japanese limited edition Heuer 02 (CBG2A12) and oddly the things I presumed might be missing from the book, like the 10pce limited edition carbon Bullhead Carrera and the Jimmy Butler 5pce limited edition tourbillon, were there... but there were also many references that were missing.
Now this is a very nice book and sure it will look fantastic on your coffee table, but I can't help thinking that the majority of people who are going to buy a book like this will be slightly obsessive by nature and the fact that there are more than just a few obscure references missing will irk those who realise it. The Amazon listing claims it contains over 600 'major' references but then goes on to say it gives a 'complete' view of the collection, so I think it's fair to say a lot of people would look at this and assume that everything is in there.` Which rather begs the question, if you're going to do this and you have unfettered access to the TAG Heuer archives then why not go for completion?
I don't know, maybe I'm expecting too much... and nothing 'contemporary' is ever complete, since even by the time I received my copy there were multiple new Carreras released. But still, it seems odd that you would put 600 in there when 700 would have been truly comprehensive. If it was 400 major references out of 700 that would make more sense to me. I don't know, I'm very conscious that I'm coming over as a hyper-critical know-it-all with an axe to grind when that isn't really my intention and I sincerely hope Nicholas will follow up with some more TAG Heuer themed books (a huge glossy Aquaracer book would be ideal, especially given it's the model's 20th anniversary next year - but we all know that isn't going to happen).
As I said, I haven't actually read the first part of the book yet, I have flicked through it though and there are some very odd design choices with hard to read silver text strangely positioned in the corners of red pages... no idea what the thinking was there. The one thing I noticed in the latter pages that bugged me slightly was that the 160th Anniversary Silver Carrera had the wrong part number, it should read CBK221B, but it actually says CBK211B. A small mistake perhaps but in the future I'm sure someone will swear blind the number is actually CBK211B because 'it says so in the official Carrera book'. After all this isn't written by just some bloke that likes watches. Unfortunately authoring a permanent reference book like this carries a degree of responsibility and those numbers should have been checked and checked again.
But mistakes happen, God knows I'm sure there's plenty in this blog... but the thing is if there's a mistake here and it's noticed it can be changed - once a book is published it's too late. But please don't let my nitpicking put you off, this really is a very nice book and it's well worth the money too... and probably most of the people who read it won't be checking the references against their own list but rather enjoying the text and the renders like a normal sane human being. Just don't go into it expecting a 'complete and definitive' history, because in that department it is lacking a little.
Ironically, I've had to make some changes to my Carrera posts since Nicholas' book provided release dates for some models which I hadn't been able to find. Of course this only applies to watches that only came on one bracelet/strap since the book doesn't distinguish between options. While I'm happy that I've answered a few more questions it probably made about 3-4 more hours of work for me correcting the posts I had already finalised. Unfortunately I honestly don't think the Carrera posts are going to be ready until January, but they definitely are coming this time!
LOL
ReplyDelete