TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 - Model Overview

And throughout the last 47 years, the Carrera has generally stayed true to this heritage - the same simple round case, uncluttered dial, combined with a Chronograph function and tachymeter scale (allowing speed to be calculated). While today’s Carrera range offers many different interpretations of this theme, the one that stays truest to that original philosophy is the Carrera 1887.

MOVEMENT

The Carrera 1887 takes its name from the watch’s movement - the Calibre 1887, named in recognition of the year that Heuer patented the oscillating pinion, a technology still used today in many Chronographs.

The Calibre 1887 begins its life at TAG Heuer’s workshop located outside the small town of Cornol in the Jura region of Switzerland. You may fear that the romance of traditional Swiss watchmaking is a myth and that the reality is more one of grey factories in industrial towns. I can confirm that the day that I visited the Cornol workshop, there were more cows to be seen than people…and not another building in sight.

At Cornol the key metal components for the movement are made, starting from solid brass ingots. The finished components are then transported back to TAG Heuer HQ in nearby La Chaux-de-Fonds where movement is finished in a high-tech assembly line that tracks the progress of every part.

The result is a thoroughly modern Chronograph, which for the moment is only available in the Carrera range.

DESIGN

One of the secrets of the Carrera 1887 is that there are actually two versions of the watch available. TAG Heuer first showed the prototype Carrera 1887 at the 2010 Basel show and then decided to make a few detail design changes. While some changes could be made quickly, others took longer as they required parts to be re-tooled. Given the strong reception to the watch in Basel, TAG Heuer decided to release an interim model, which has been on sale since late 2010

The 2011 version of the watch has several detailed changes, such as a Tachymetre scale on the inner-bezel, angled metal borders on the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock sub-dials and a light circle around the 9 o’clock sub-dial. While each change in itself is relatively minor, the sum of the changes gives each version of the Carrera 1887 its own distinctive character.

Creating a modern version of a well-loved classic inevitably leads to comparisons to the original- but what I love about the Carrera 1887 is that this is not a re-edition, or re-production of the original 1964 Carrera, but rather a modern design that stands on its own.

See TAG Heuer watches for more styles.