HERITAGE TRAIL

We get to the substance of the 2023 Carrera collection, on the occasion of its 60th birthday, with TAG Heuer Heritage Director Nicholas Biebuyck

Let's begin with the new Carrera and the different versions appearing this year. Why the different versions, and what's the historical angle?

Well, I'm not in product development so I can't comment but when I briefed the (development) team I took them through the historical models...the first Carrera from 1963; the first big date complication in 1965, the reverse panda in 1968; and we have the automatic chronograph in 1969. Of course, we have the solid gold pieces worn by the (racing) drivers, and you can see that we took various codes from these different collections to draw them down into the (2023 editions). You can see that there's a very clear through line from the original 2447 NST to the new 39mm Carrera that we've launched at Watches and Wonders Geneva.

Right, and the date windows? I cannot recall a model in the archive with the date at noon...

On the blue model, obviously it's the more contemporary watch so we've traditionally had the date window at 6 o'clock (and it thus remains) here to maintain the symmetry. (On the black model) the date window is placed at 12 o'clock to give it a much cleaner look. So, yeah, there is a historical reference...we introduced the Carrera reference 3147 in 1965 with the date window at 12 o'clock, but then the following year, we switched the date window to 9 o'clock because people said that the chronograph hand blocked the date window. This is probably true, but the thing is here (in the new 39mm Carrera), it's not that big an issue because it's only when you look at it flat on (that the hands might get in the way) and even then, you can see the date. Anyway, the chronograph (calibre TH20-00) has a vertical clutch so...

One could just leave it running and thus not block the date at all?

That's right! 

Turning to the nickname everyone has for both new 39mm Carreras, what do you think of it?