![]() So while the Carrera Panamericana was considered the most dangerous race, of any type, in the world, the Heuer Carrera chronograph became a watch strictly for the gentleman racer. Inspired by stories of a tortuous border-to-border road race which took place in Mexico for just five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, he decided he wanted a pure drivers’ watch, with simplicity, legibility and functionality uppermost in its design. His debut creation revived the Autavia name for a new wristwatch in 1962, but his biggest success to date came the following year. The legendary horologist, Jack Heuer took over the reins in 1958, the fourth generation of his family to run the company, and it was he who can take the most plaudits for reinforcing the brand’s reputation when it comes to motorsport. Their commitment saw Heuer appointed as official timekeepers of the Olympic Games throughout the 1920s. ![]() Heuer had already established a rock-solid legacy for industry-leading chronographs by the time the first Carrera was created.Īs far back as 1882, just 20-years into their history, they created their first chrono pocket watch, following that up in 1887 with the invention of the oscillating pinion, a key component in mechanical stopwatches still used by many top manufacturers today.Īfter the turn of the century, Heuer doubled down on their commitment to precise sports timings in 1911with the world’s first dashboard chronograph, the Time of Trip, their first chrono wristwatch in 1914 and the groundbreaking Mikrograph in 1916, the first chronograph able to measure down to 1/100 thsecond. But it was the Carrera which came first, a suave thoroughbred of a timepiece, albeit one which took its name from perhaps the most murderous car rally ever run.īelow, we explore the history and legacy of Heuer’s iconic chronograph. The Monaco is the unorthodox disruptive influence, the first square-cased waterproof automatic watch ever made. However, the Monza has now been discontinued to allow more emphasis to fall on the Monaco and Carrera-the undoubted heavyweights not just of TAG’s portfolio, but of the racing watch genre in general.Įach has a very distinct personality. But when you think of the real association between watchmaker and auto racing, it’s the vintage classics of the Monza, the Monaco and the Carrera which spring most readily to mind.Īll three stemmed from the 1960s and ‘70s, back when TAG Heuer was just Heuer, and they all continued on well into the 21 st century. Recently, we’ve seen them team up with F1 heavyweights such as Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher to create special edition pieces. So we have Breitling for Bentley, Chopard’s Mille Miglia and, of course, the Rolex Daytona among hundreds of others.īut perhaps more than any brand, it is TAG Heuer which has most embraced the race track. ![]() ![]() In fact, there are huge numbers of timepieces out there which have been inspired by and even named after either the competing vehicles themselves, or some of the events in which they race. The world’s of luxury watch manufacturing and professional motorsport have long been intertwined. ![]()
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