Tag Heuer Just Put an Elegant New Spin on a Classic Watch
Welcome to Dialed In, Esquire's weekly column bringing you horological happenings and the most essential news from the watch world since March 2020.
TagHeuer’s long presence in motorsport—and in whole families of watches designed to track time—is pretty well-known. The OG of them all is the Carrera, a chronograph watch that, when it launched in the mid 1960s, symbolized stripped-back modernist design. That racy original spirit lives on now in other watches in the Carrera collection, not least in the new three- and four-hand designs launched last week. But theres nothing retro about them.
The watches include a day-date, a simple three-hand date, and a GMT (that the brand refers to as Twin-Time). What unites them all across 13 iterations and four dial colors (black, blue, white, and silver) is a super-simple display echoing the new Carrera Chronographs launched last year.
But this is not merely an exercise in reductive design. The new Carreras have a glossy feel about them—with much polishing of the 316L stainless steel—and a newly created case with refined lugs that, in line with current trends elsewhere, steps away from all-beefy, all-day tool watches. For Tag Heuer, these Carreras define a new aesthetic that bridges the gap between the functional and the elegant.
As well as a 41mm case, the Carrera Date comes in the sweet-spot size of 39mm. At a time when we are finally going out again, the watches are conceived to multitask from work to a night out with ease. In Los Angeles last week, to underline the new mien of the Carrera, the launch of the new watches at a lavish house party in the hills was also an opportunity to celebrate Tag Heuer’s new ambassador—no slouch he in the rugged-yet-sophisticated department—Ryan Gosling.
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