Tag Heuer’s Montreal Carrera
An early motorsport chronograph rides again
When Guy Bove, product director at Tag Heuer, came to mark the brand’s 160th anniversary with special editions of its Carrera watch, he wanted to achieve a couple of things. “We’ve got two different messages,” he says. “First of all, a wake-up call for people who don’t necessarily know about Carrera. And then we have creative applications, for the aficionados.”
An all-silver version of the chronograph came out in June, designed to be “outside of any time period” and to satisfy the first objective. This was followed in July by the “Montreal-inspired” red, blue and white version, a limited edition based on the white Heuer Montreal from 1972, a long-discontinued watch that should satisfy the second. There are also four new editions, with dials in blue, green, black, and black and red gold, joining the permanent collection, with four more new colours to follow in September.
The Carrera is the perfect watch to mark Tag Heuer’s anniversary. It is famous for its chronographs. Its founder, Edouard Heuer, was an innovator and inventor, and the brand made its mark with high-quality watches for professionals. In 1916, it created the Microsplit, a stopwatch that could time events to 1/100th of a second. It was also the official timekeeper of several Olympic Games, with the company profiting handsomely from its stopwatches. Its Carrera line appeared in the Sixties, named for the hair-raising Carrera Panamericana motor rally of the Fifties.
“It’s done a great job of staying relevant,” Bove says. “A brand like Tag Heuer has been heavily focused historically on sports and dynamics. With a Carrera, you’re really buying into the brand.”
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