TAG Heuer Goes Back To The Future

But those iconic designs of the past, from the Lamborghini Miura to the Heuer Carrera, still look good now because they were fresh and bold and maybe even controversial at the time. They were originals. They didn't reference what went before. And today's designers have to be bold again if they're going to make cars and watches that their successors will want to copy in another fifty years time.

This doesn't mean that they should ignore history. TAG Heuer's CEO Jean-Claud Biver seems to get this. He only took charge of the business in late 2014, but on his watch TAG has already launched a reissue of the super-cool Heuer Monza on its fortieth anniversary, allowing the brand to tell again the remarkable story of the collaboration between Heuer and Ferrari that culminated in Niki Lauda's 1975 F1 World Championship. And it has held an unprecedented public vote to decide which version of its classic Autavia driver's watch it should reissue, with the winner based on a version worn by Jochen Rindt.

But TAG Heuer has also rethought and redesigned the Carrera, which since 1963 has been at the heart of its motorsport chronograph range. The new look of the Carrera Heuer-01 is modern and assertive. It’s a fitting reflection of TAG Heuer’s new partnership with Red Bull, which puts the TAG name on a Formula One engine for the first time since the TAG-engined McLarens of the 1980s.

The new Carrera won't be to everyone's taste. But it has always been a bold watch, and one which has evolved. The original, launched in 1963, was named after the Carrera Panamericana following a conversation that Jack Heuer had about the legendary Mexican road race with sporstcar racing hero Pedro Rodriguez. Jack decided that his new chronograph design would pay tribute to this huge feat of endurance. It was a very suitable tribute: a clever, pared-down, very modern watch designed to be legible in a racing car even at high speed on the worst of roads and with a beautiful, three-dimensional dial with sunken chronograph registers.

Later versions of the Carrera embraced the latest advances in watchmaking, from the first automatic chronographs of 1969 to the quartz revolution of the 1970s. The design changed too, of course: check out the exuberant, barrel-cased Carreras of the mid-'70s.

The new Carrera Heuer-01 fits this tradition, even if the looks seem new. Its movement confers instant credibility, designed and made 'in-house' by TAG Heuer, who declared it the most affordable in-house chronograph from a Swiss maker at its launch in 2015.

To celebrate the movement, the design has been skeletonized. So not only can you look though the crystal on the caseback to see the self-winding rotor shaped like a sportscar's wheel, but the dial itself is 'see-through', with much of the movement's workings visible from the front, even past the extra hands and sub-dials required by the chronograph's stopwatch function. Take a close look at the date numerals: instead of being printed on a disc, they're moulded from resin so you look straight through them.

The Carrera Heuer-01's case is just as striking. It's made of a dozen individual pieces, meaning that TAG's designers can mix materials for better functional or visual effect. So the all-titanium version is light and scratch resistant for very active customers, while the version mixing rose gold and black titanium carbide reflects the latest trends in watch design.

The new Carrera Heuer-01 is a traditional Carrera: traditional in the sense that this model has always innovated. But it isn't an entirely clean-sheet design. If you look closely you can see some echoes of the original Carrera shape, particularly in the distinctive lugs which attach the metal bracelet or rubber strap to the case. Their sizes might be very different: the 1963 original was 36mm across, while this one is a very modern 45mm in diameter. But in their overall form, they're clearly related.

For those who still prefer retro, there's the Monza, and soon the reissued Autavia. But if you had to pick a watch from TAG Heuer's current range that will be a valuable, collectible classic in 50 years' time, the Carrera Heuer-01 is probably the one.