As most people are aware, the name of TAG Heuer’s Carrera watch comes from the gruelling Carrera Panamerica road race. Launched in 1964, the original Carrera was worn by the ‘Maestro’ and racing legend Juan Manuel Fangio.
Last year at BaselWorld, TAG Heuer introduced the Calibre 360 Concept Chronograph, the first mechanical wrist chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100th of a second. This year, for a very few lucky collectors and lovers of the mechanical chronograph, the brand launches the Carrera Calibre 360 Rose Gold – a Limited Edition timepiece of just 360 pieces.

The watch
The eye-catching Carrera 360 Rose Gold features elegant easy-to-read details inspired by the brand’s vintage stopwatches – the extra large start/stop pushbutton, the enhanced fluted crown, the 100-minute chronograph power reserve situated below the TAG Heuer logo at 12 o’clock and the oversized 1/100th of a second counter at 6 o’clock.
As was the case with the 360 Concept Chrono-graph, the movement of the Carrera 360 uses two sets of escapement mechanisms, allowing it to function at a standard 28,800 oscillations an hour in normal conditions, then accelerate to the extraordinarily fast 360,000 oscillations an hour in the chronograph mode. At that speed, it beats an incredible 10 times faster than the most accurate mechanical wristwatch on the market today. The precision of the movement requires more than 230 components, a dramatically lightened and miniaturized hairspring and an escapement mechanism which is 26% smaller in diameter than a normal balance wheel.
The Carrera 360 Rose Gold Limted Edition is in 18 carat gold and comes with a ‘chocolate-brown’ guilloché dial with hand-applied 18 carat rose gold hands and indices, a matching hand-sewn alligator strap, sapphire crystals front and back – where the specially engraved oscillating weight bearing the movement’s name and Côtes de Genève decoration can be admired.
The creation of this timepiece required three exclusive worldwide patents:
1. 1/100th of a second display on a mechanical wrist chronograph;
2. Bi-directional crown and rewind system: the single crown controls the automatic watch and the me-chanical chronograph, as well as the watch’s hour and date setting. When turned counter-clockwise, it rewinds the automatic watch and when turned clockwise, it rewinds the manual chronograph;
3. Transmission of the date from the bottom of the movement to the upper dial.

In addition to the Rose Gold version, TAG Heuer is making a Carrera Calibre 360 White Gold Limited Edition of 100 pieces with a silver guilloché dial and blue-ringed 1/100th of a second counter and a Carrera Calibre 360 Steel Limited Edition of 3600 pieces with a black guilloché dial with a silver-ringed 100th of a second counter.
Whether one opts for the rose gold, white gold or stainless steel version of the Carrera Calibre 360, a Carrera by any other name is still a Carrera … an icon in the world of mechanical chronographs.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2006 Magazine Issue