By Dhananjay Pathak
The world of motorsports has for long been a source of inspiration for TAG Heuer and the Carrera line of watches from the brand is a fine representative of this influence. Born in 1963 the Carrera collection is celebrating its 55th anniversary in 2018 and to mark this special landmark TAG Heuer is introducing two new sporty chronographs to the Carrera line up at Baselworld 2018. The new TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 watches exhibit the sports watch DNA that is normally associated with Carrera watches and feature a nice vintage inspired dial design.
One of key elements that is crucial to the success of any watch is legibility and it seems that the design team at TAG Heuer had this at the back of their mind while designing the dial of these watches. In spite of having 3 chronograph registers along with a date window, the dial looks quite balanced and easy to read. Presented in either black or blue, the main dial offers a nice backdrop to the highly contrasting white subdials at 6, 9 and 12. The applied hour markers have been faceted giving a nice dimensionality to dial and have also been polished echoing the finish on the case. The entire handset has a baton style shape with a broad polished hour and minute hands along with slender chronograph hands. Another interesting detail is the use of red color on the chronograph hands which gives a sporty appeal to the watch, mimicking sports watches from the 70’s and at the same time helps segregate the chronograph functions on the watch. The hour markers, as well as the hour and minute hands, have been filled with custard colored luminous material giving the watch a vintage vibe and to make it easy to check the time in dimly lit situations.
The case of the new TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 has a diameter of 41mm making it a modestly sized watch for today’s standards. On top of the case is a bezel with a 60 seconds tachymeter scale printed in white and interestingly the bezel has been rendered in the same color as that of the dial. Powering these new watches is the reliable Calibre16 which is an automatic chronograph movement offering a power reserve of around 42 hours.
So, in case you are on the lookout for an everyday sports chronographs with some vintage flavor, these new handsome looking Carrera are definitely worth a try. The watches would retail at a price of USD 4,350 on a leather strap and USD 4,500 on a bracelet. For more info, visit TAG Heuer online.
