BY JOVAN KRSTEVSKI
Not long ago, TAG Heuer debuted their Carrera Chronograph “Cortina” watch with a green gemstone dial and in an 18k yellow gold case. Surprisingly, now TAG Heuer has just made available another Carrera in 18k yellow gold and now with black-and-gold dial. This particular color combinations is better known as “JPS”, an abbreviation for “John Player Special“; a moniker for the 1158 CHN chronograph of the 1970s and given as a result of a sponsorship between Tag Heuer and a cigarette brand that also sponsored the Lotus Formula 1 team in the 1970s. The readers ought to have guessed by now that the brand colors were black and gold as well as the paintwork for the Lotus race cars, so is the dial of the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph “JPS”.
Housed inside a solid, glamorous 18k yellow gold case measuring 42mm, it has gold pushers and crown with contrasting polished and brushed finishings. Sapphire crystal protects the dial and the exhibition caseback, allowing a 100 meters water resistance.
The dial has the iconic black and gold livery from the 1970s that was ever so popular on the F1 racetrack and on the innumerable number of watches that were ornamented with this suave, stylish color combination. The style was prevalent during that decade and the decade that followed, Senna’s 98T Lotus F1 had the renowned JPS livery as he was also a Heuer ambassador. The contrasting discs and dial style in black and gold has since reemerged and been adapted to sports chronographs in the same livery. The dial has sunray-brushed, metallic finish, with applied yellow gold-plated and polished indices for the hours and yellow gold-plated hour and minute hands with white Super-LumiNova. The black date discs are accompanied by the ghost seconds at six and a date window below the ghost seconds, with matching background color as the dial. The snailed gold-plated interiors and black lacquered hands complete the dial package.
TAG Heuer’s in-house automatic chronograph movement calibre Heuer 02 powers the watch, whilst beating at 28,800 vph (4 Hz) and offering 80 hours power reserve. A Black alligator strap with pin buckle completes the overall package. TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph “JPS” Black and gold is now available at TAG Heuer retailers and boutiques with a price tag of $21,500.
Visit TAG Heuer here.
