REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

Below
A back view of the
Carrera 160 years
Silver Limited
Edition, showing
off the specially
decorated rotor to
commemorate the
160th anniversary
of the brand.
TAG HEUER CARRERA 160 YEARS SILVER
LIMITED EDITION
The 2020 re-edition of the 2447S is a bit of a mashup of
its earliest and later execution. You’ll see that as per Jack’s
implementation, the one-fifths of a second scale is on the
steel tension ring of the watch dial. But the watch having
the silver sunray-brushed dial, is a clear nod to the later
version. This is why TAG Heuer proposes this new watch,
as based off the 1964 2447S, rather than a 1963 version.
Another detail borrowed from the 1963 dial is the solitary
“SWISS”, the later dials would have had the “T” printed
above indicating the use of tritium on the dial.
Deviations, by virtue of the fact that it’s been 57 years
since the Carrera was first introduced, are aplenty. While
the case is more or less the same, polished stainless steel
with the round chrono-pushers, it is now larger at 39mm
up from 36mm.
The larger size now is mostly due to the use of the
modern automatic caliber Heuer 02, as opposed to the
1960s manual-winding Valjoux 72. The watch is capped
off with a boxed sapphire crystal, which mimics the boxed
acrylic crystal that would’ve been found on the originals.
Jeff Stein, a friend and a scholar on all matters
pertaining to Heuer, thoughtfully addresses the matter of
the unique challenge that a watchmaker like TAG Heuer
finds itself faced with every time they embark on a reissue.
On his site onthedash.com, Jeff writes, “With the Carrera
160 Silver Limited Edition, we have a different design
team that was operating under a different mandate. While
Hiroshi Fujiwara was at liberty to add or delete elements
of the predecessor, the mandate for the new Carrera was
to produce a watch that would mimic the 1964 Carrera, to
the extent feasible. While this may sound restrictive, the
new Carrera incorporates accents and seemingly minor
design elements that serve to complete a beautiful design.
Whether it’s the numbers on the recorders, the precise
shade of the faux lume, or the sunburst finish of the paint,
the newest Carrera shows the attention to detail required
to make a re-edition collectible, as a fitting member of the
Carrera family. Since 1996, we have seen a lot of TAG Heuer
Carreras; to my eye, it’s the details of the Carrera 160 Silver
LE that make it a worthy addition to the Carrera family.”
And Jeff is absolutely right to congratulate the design
team at TAG Heuer as such. Revolution’s founding
editor, Wei Koh, often asks the team this question when
he encounters timepieces that, aesthetically speaking,
move him on a personal level: “What movement’s
inside?” And when the rest of team is unable to answer
him in the next split second (because no one else in the
team has Wei’s savant-like ability to retain reference
numbers), Wei himself offers: “With a watch this goodlooking,
does it matter much what’s on the inside?”
The same can be suggested for the TAG Heuer Carrera
160 Years Silver Limited Edition. You see, one of this 2020
edition’s biggest deviations from the original is one that is right
under all of our noses. The 1960s 2447S had its small running
seconds counter at nine o’clock (Valjoux 72). The 2020 reedition,
however, has its running seconds counter at six o’clock
(Caliber Heuer 02). Meaning to say that the tri-compax
orientation on the watch at hand is completely different.
In the most discerning circles of watch collectors, such
deviations have been known to end careers; not to mention,
end the lifetimes of new releases long before they hit the
shelves. As Jeff writes, “The new Carrera has only been
rumored for a couple of days, and already we hear of vintage
Heuer guys considering their purchases.” Surely there is no
greater validation for a reissued vintage watch. And if the
TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Silver Limited Edition is a
sign of things that are to come in the year of the Carrera, we
can only expect greater. Perhaps an all-out 2447N (allblack
dial), or a 2447NS (reverse panda dial)?
TAG HEUER
CARRERA 160 YEARS SILVER LIMITED EDITION
MOVEMENT Self-winding caliber Heuer 02; hours and
minutes; running subsidiary seconds; chronograph
with central seconds hand, 30-minute and 12-hour
totalizers; 80-hour power reserve
CASE 39mm; stainless steel; water-resistant to 100m
STRAP Black alligator leather and polished stainlesssteel
folding clasp with double safety push-buttons
THE MODERNIST 91