A racing fan as well as a lover of architecture and design, Jack Heuer launched the Tag Heuer Carrera chronograph in 1963. His vision for this watchmaking icon was of legibility and functionality which, 60 years later, drives on with undeniably daring panache
The year 1963 was one of noteworthy firsts around the world and across cultural fields. The Beatles released their first album, Please Please Me. The Porsche 911 was first unveiled to the public. Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. However, watchmaking history will remember this year for the birth of the now famous Carrera. This chronograph was the first model designed by Jack Heuer, the then CEO of watch company Tag Heuer.
Inspired by Racing
A devotee of clean, modern lines, a discerning aesthete and a great admirer of the work of Charles Eames, Le Corbusier, Eero Saarinen and Oscar Niemeyer, Heuer was determined to create a chronograph tha combined aesthetic restraint with technical efficiency, along with at-a-glance readability—an especially useful characteristic when driving. The Carrera was named after the Carrera Panamericana, the most demanding and dangerous endurance rally in the world at the time. “[When] I first heard the Spanish word carrera,” says Heuer in his autobiographical book The Times of my Life, “I loved not only its sexy sound but also its multiple meanings, which include road, race, course and career. All very much Heuer territory!” The new watch was a timelessly elegant chronograph with a shock-resistant case and a noticeably large dial thanks to the thinness of the bezel.
“I loved not only the sexy sound of the word carrera but also its multiple meanings, which include road, race, course and career”
