I was talking about watches recently when a customer’s wife looked with curiosity at me and who husband, who was a huge TAG Heuer fan. She made a smart observation: nobody really buys a luxury mechanical watch because of need. They buy a watch for wants – style, fashion, history.
A very smart woman, this wife. Very smart. She’s right.
Some people own a Timex. It’s a practical watch. It tells time. A Fitbit tells time. It gives you stats on your health. Even your phone tells time. And even a microwave tells time, even if lots of ovens are never set correctly?
So why would buy a TAG Heuer Carrera?
Because sometimes the point isn’t merely what something does. The point is connection. As in connection to history.
And the Carrera has one heck of a history.
It Started With a Crazy Mexican Road Race
Jack Heuer created the original Carrera in 1963. The name came from something considerably more dangerous than sitting around Switzerland designing watches.
Heuer had heard about the Carrera Panamericana, a famous Mexican road race. The race was fast, glamorous and pretty dangerous. Jack Heuer loved the word Carrera—Spanish for race or career—and registered the name. Get it? The race that is your career? Or your career is a race? But not the rat race. The race to style and performance.
That racing DNA has remained part of the watch ever since.
The first Carrera, reference 2447, wasn’t designed merely to look cool. It was intended for professional car drivers. Jack Heuer wanted the chronograph to be easy to read when a person was driving a fast car fast and on a bumpy road. Tougher than sitting around looking at Outlook.
Modern Art Meets the Racetrack
Here’s another wonderful little Carrera fact: Jack Heuer also loved modern architecture and design.
Think Eames. Think Le Corbusier.
He wanted the Carrera to have a clean, uncluttered face and be easy to read. That clean design explain why early Carreras still look quite modern today. Clean, simple and functional design is modern.
Then things really got interesting.
In 1968, Heuer created a sailing-oriented Carrera called the Skipper. This followed the company’s involvement with the yacht Intrepid (which one the America’s cup). Its wild blue, orange and green dial got collector’s to give it a nickname:
The “Skipperrera.”
Today those watches are among the rarer vintage Heuer chronographs.
Try getting that kind of story out of your Fitbit.
Then Came 1969
In 1969, Heuer helped introduce the Calibre 11 automatic chronograph movement. The company unveiled an automatic Carrera in Geneva and, simultaneously, in New York City.
The 1970s Carreras became bigger, louder and more colorful. Different shapes appeared. Different movements followed. Styles changed.
And then, eventually, the Carrera disappeared from the catalog.
But they brought it back. Thank goodness!
TAG Heuer revived the Carrera in 1996 with watches closely modeled on the 1963 original. The reception helped spark renewed interest in vintage Heuer watches. Eventually, it pushed historical designs to the center of the catalogue.
You Aren’t Really Buying the Time
Today there are Carreras with modern automatic movements, skeleton dials, tourbillons, Glassbox crystals and all sorts of technical wizardry.
But I think the appeal is simple.
When you put a Carrera on your wrist, you’re wearing something connected to racing in the 1950s, Swiss watchmaking in the 1960s, America’s Cup sailing, the development of the automatic chronograph, Formula One and decades of industrial design. It connects you as a single human being to a history with many facets.
You don’t need any of that to know what time it is.
That’s precisely the point. The watch is “more” than just time.
I’ve spent more than 30 years repairing watches here in New York City. I enjoy working on each and every TAG Heuer because each reminds me of its storied history. Some remind me of the America’s cup. Others remind me of fast cars. All remind me of design excellence. As a watch owner, you own a small piece of history that, let’s be honest, might outlive you to your grandson or great grandson.
Your phone probably isn’t going to do that. That Fitbit sure as hell isn’t.
If you have a TAG Heuer Carrera—or another TAG Heuer that needs cleaning, servicing or repair—bring it by Ron Gordon Watch Repair in Midtown Manhattan. We are known as one of the top TAG Heuer watch repair shops in New York, NY.