During LVMH Watch Week (January 2023) in Singapore, Swiss luxury watch brand TAG Heuer announced the Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary limited edition.
The iconic Carrera watch was launched in 1963. Known for its classic elegant design with an ultra-legible dial and superior performance, it has been preferred by many motorsports legends and movie stars.
In 2023, Tag Heuer is celebrating the 60th anniversary of this legendary chronograph. Boasting a classic panda dial, the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary is the first limited edition series to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Carrera.
Inspiration: Heuer Carrera 2447 SN
Limited to 600 pieces, this commemorative watch (Tag Heuer reference CBK221H.FC8317) takes inspiration from the Heuer Carrera reference 2447 SN of the late 1960s.
The first-generation Carrera model had a hand-wound Valjoux chronograph movement and either a silvered or black dial in a variety of configurations, sometimes with the addition of a scale around the dial periphery.
At the end of the 1960s, a second series was added to the line-up with either a silvered dial and black subdials, or the other way around, known respectively as ‘panda’ and ‘reverse panda’.
The Heuer Carrera 2447 SN had a silvered dial with black subdials. This easy to read high-contrast dial color theme is better known as panda.
Building on the success of the earliest Carreras, the 2447 SN further improved readability at a glance with clever design touches. They included stripes down the hour markers to give them extra clarity, hour and minute hands with stripes down the centre for the same effect, double stops at 12 so it was clear when the chronograph was zeroed, and white hands and markings on the black counters to make them even more visible.
Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary Edition
The colourways are lifted directly from vintage to new, including the black stripes down the central hands and hour markers, the double stops at 12, and of course the black counters with high-contrast white markings.
On a silver sunray-brushed dial, the vintage Heuer logo is placed below the name Carrera. The counter at 6 carries over the word ‘Swiss’, marking the watch’s Swiss Made status. The 60-minute and 12-hour counters are reversed, as well as the subtraction of the T from the dial which designated radioactive tritium on the original watch. This has been replaced with contemporary Super-LumiNova on the new model.
The 39mm diameter polished steel case with a raised profile ‘glass box’ in sapphire crystal, the vintage pushers, beige lume and slimline tension ring around the dial’s outer edge, gives the watch much of its retro look.
The sapphire crystal case back reveals Heuer 02, TAG Heuer’s 80-hour in-house automatic chronograph calibre. Also visible are the movement’s Geneva Stripes decoration, its column wheel and a special Carrera 60th Anniversary rotor.
The case back is engraved with the serial number, XXX/600, and with note of its 100-metre water resistance. The watch comes with a perforated black calfskin leather racing strap with pin buckle.
Technical details
Model: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 60th Anniversary
Reference CBK221H.FC8317
Movement
Calibre HEUER 02 Automatic
Dial
Silver sunray brushed dial
Silver flange with 60 second / minute scale
3 counters:
– 3 o’clock: black “azuré” minute chronograph counter; silver hands and markings
– 6 o’clock: black “azuré” permanent second indicator; silver hands and markings
-9 o’clock: black “azuré” hour chronograph counter; silver hands and markings
Rhodium plated facetted, polished hour and minute hands with beige superluminova®
Black lacquered central hand
Black HEUER printed logo
Case
39 mm diameter
Steel polished case
Steel polished fixed bezel;
Domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment
Steel standard crown at 3 o’clock
Polished steel round push button at 2 o’clock
Polished steel round push button at 4 o’clock
Steel screw-down sapphire case back with limited numbered, special engraving “TAG HEUER
LIMITED EDITION, XXX/600”
Water resistance: 100 meters
Bracelet
Polished steel folding clasp with double safety push-buttons
Availability
January 2023
