ReviewPrecision Meets Sporty Perfection—The TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer02T COSC Watches

When you speak of motor-racing and watches, TAG Heuer is often the first name that comes to mind. The intrinsic link between the brand and the sport is one that we’ve seen flourishing over decades. “We have a DNA that is clearly associated with motor-racing,” says the brand’s CEO, Jean-Claude Biver. A collection of watches that captures the very essence of the company’s ties with motor sports is the Carrera series. And when it comes to the world of racing, where timing is everything, accuracy is paramount. To offer the ultimate in accuracy, TAG Heuer has created the Carrera Calibre Heuer02T watches, which are powered by a chronometer movement, certified officially by COSC, the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute. In addition to the COSC stamp of approval, the movement also features a tourbillon as an extra precaution that allows you to rest completely assured that accuracy will never be a problem. Accuracy isn’t, however, the only factor that links these watches to the world of racing that inspires them. These watches are set in cases that are shock resistant and water resistant and are tough to endure even the most intense road wear. These are among the properties that were essential to the very foundation of the Carrera range of watches—requirements mandated by the creator himself, Jack Heuer.

The Carrera Series: A Look Back

Great-grandson of the brand’s founder, Eduard Heuer, Jack Heuer has been behind some of the most path-breaking achievements in sports-related timekeeping. It was in the 60s when Heuer, an enthusiast of motor-racing, felt the need for a watch that could perform the accurate timekeeping that racing demanded, while also promising the durability required for the sport. For this, he was inspired by the Carrera Panamericana Mexico Road Race, which is said to be the ‘world’s most gruelling open-road endurance competition’.

In the face of functionality and endurance, Heuer didn’t sideline the design of the watch. He had a clear idea of what the watch should look like. The design of the early Carrera watches naturally included elements of motorsports, such as the black and white vintage dashboard counters, as well as the perforated leather driving gloves. Also drawing heavily from the emerging modernism of the time—including the works of prominent architects such as Oscar Niemeyer and Eero Sarinen—Heuer was even influenced by the aesthetics of pop art. “I was excited by the new forms, materials and techniques just then coming into play,” says Heuer. “We were after something that took advantage of these, that was just as new and audacious, but at the same time sober, simple and motorsports-driven, stripped of all ornamentation, classic and timeless.”

An Icon Rises

When the TAG Heuer Carrera was born in 1963, it quickly became a must-have for race-car drivers in America and Europe. The collection grew from strength to strength thereafter, even introducing the world to the first ever automatic chronograph, the Carrera Chronomatic, in 1969. Other firsts have included 2011’s Carrera Mikrograph, the world’s first chronograph ‘displaying the 1/100th of a second on a sweeping central hand’. All these developments have paved the way for the contemporary editions that are some of the most advanced sports watches you can come across today.

The Heuer-02T Tourbillon

In recent years, the Heuer-01 in-house calibre has become an integral part of this collection of signature chronograph watches. A successor of this calibre, the Heuer02T was introduced in 2016. Combining what is arguably the most popular complication—the chronograph—with a tourbillon, which is considered to be among the most prestigious complications, this calibre has caught the attention of many connoisseurs and collectors alike. It’s particularly interesting since you don’t often see tourbillons in such essentially sporty timepieces. A self-winding mechanical movement, the Heuer02T offers a power reserve of 65 hours, which is rather impressive, given that it runs a chronograph as well as a tourbillon, in addition to the regular timekeeping functions.

Two Chiselled Timekeepers

On the face of the watches that run on this COSC-certified calibre, the 12-hour and 30-minute chronograph counters can be seen at nine and three o’clock, while you have a clear view of the tourbillon cage at six o’clock. With its chiselled features, the dial itself is reminiscent of the gears and mechanical parts of a racing car engine. Complementing this are the shapely hour indexes and central hour and minute hands, all with sharp edges, finished with rhodium plating and details in black SuperLuminova, which enhances readability in low-light conditions. All this is visible with sharp clarity through the domed, bevelled sapphire crystal glass.

Measuring 45mm in diameter, and water resistant to 100m, the cases that these watches come in are built from grade 5 titanium, with a brushed finish. While both versions feature PVD-treated casebacks, fitted with sapphire crystal for a clear view of the movement within, the carbon version has PVD treatment throughout. Rubber details on the titanium crown and chronograph push pieces enhance the sporty character of these pieces. The carbon watch comes with lugs in CMC carbon, also seen on the tachymeter scale bezel, which is made of black ceramic in the natural titanium version. While the former comes fitted with an all-black rubber strap, the strap on the latter is in brown calfskin leather, with a black rubber lining.

As a true symbol of TAG Heuer’s excellence in horology, as well as the brand’s passion for automobile sports, the Carrera Calibre Heuer02T watches are as good as it gets.