REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

THE CARRERA, 1964 (LEFT) VS 2020 (RIGHT)
5 KEY DIFFERENCES
1964 REF. 2447S
The 2447S is housed in
a 36mm stainless steel
case, which is rather
large for the era.
It’s fitted with a boxed
acrylic crystal.
The watch bears a
manually wound Valjoux
72 movement.
The running seconds
for the watch is situated
at nine o’clock, based
on the configuration
of the Valjoux 72.
Within the 12-hour totalizer,
the dial has a ‘T’ marking
above the ‘SWISS’ label,
indicating the use of tritium
as luminous material.
2020 CARRERA 160
YEARS SILVER EDITI
The watch is housed in a
39mm stainless steel cas
a suitable contemporary
dress size for 2020.
It’s fitted with a boxed
sapphire crystal.
The watch bears a
self-winding Heuer 02
in-house movement,
which has been tested
extensively for precision.
The running seconds
for the watch is situated
at six o’clock.
The ‘SWISS’ label is loca
within the running seco
withoutthe‘T’marking,
following the 1963 dial
execution of the 2447S.
degree of water resistance. I decided to use the inside
bevel of this tension ring to carry the markings measuring
one-fifths of a second. In other words, the flat dial surface
no longer had to carry these markings — they had now been
shifted off onto the tension ring — and this was the secret
behind the fresh, clean and uncluttered appearance of my
first ‘Carrera’.”
CELEBRATING A MILESTONE
The Carrera marked its 50th anniversary back in 2013, but
there’s been a renewed sense of interest in the watch and
its lineage, as evident in recent runaway successes such as
the TAG Heuer Carrera Fragment, created in collaboration
with acclaimed Japanese artist, Hiroshi Fujiwara.
The strength in the present-generation Carreras
stems from the design identity that Jack Heuer himself
established when he launched the watch collection in
1963; i.e. its “fresh, clean and uncluttered” dial.
In celebrating the milestone that the Carrera was for
both Jack Heuer and Heuer, the company, TAG Heuer in
2020 is dedicating its 160th anniversary year, to the Carrera.
And celebrations are already underway, with the TAG Heuer
Carrera 160 Years Silver Limited Edition that was stealthily
launched during the LVMH Watch Week in Dubai.
Stealthily because, TAG Heuer wasn’t formally
exhibiting in Dubai. We got to hear of the watch as a
result of a miscommunication (with the watch appearing
on Instagram ahead of its official launch) and the
kindness of our friend, and TAG Heuer’s heritage
director, Catherine Eberle-Devaux, who was casually
present at the fair with the watch in her pocket.
Catherine shared with us that the watch created to kick
the year off is based off a 1964 Carrera, referred to as the
2447S. The 2447 is believed to have been one of the earliest
Carreras, with the very first examples of it to have left the
manufacture in 1963, fitted with a matte eggshell-white
dial. These are some of the rarest specimens of the 2447S.
In the following year, the watch was fitted with a silver
starburst-finished dial and these remained in production
for the longer lifespan of the watch. It is suggested that the
reason that Heuer and Singer, the dial producer, had moved
away from the eggshell-colored dials is possibly that the
treatment on the dials proved too fragile for heavy use.
Jack mentions in his autobiography that he decided
to use the inside bevel of the steel tension ring that fitted
inside the crystal, and kept it under tension against the
surrounding steel case, to carry the markings measuring
one-fifths of a second. But later as demand for variations of
chronograph scales grew among Heuer customers, parts of
the scale had to be brought back to the primary dial.
These later dials can also be identified by the “T” above
the “SWISS” print in the six o’clock counter. Aesthetic
differences aside, all of these watches were driven by the
Valjoux 72, which lent to the 36mm diameter of the watch;
the 30-minute totalizer (three o’clock); 12-hour totalizer
(six o’clock); and the running small seconds (nine o’clock).
90 THE MODERNIST