TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Glassbox Review

Along with the Monaco, the Carrera Chronograph has been the most respected and historically important watch from TAG Heuer. Over 60 years ago in 1963, Jack Heuer was inspired by the Carrera Panamericana race and released a motorsports based watch in the Heuer Carrera chronograph. The reference was 2447 and featured a minimalist design that focused on function and was perfect for racing drivers.

The Carrera Panamericana race the watch was named after was first held in 1950 in Mexico. The race traveled the newly completed Pan-American Highway that stretched 2,000 miles from Mexico's southern border all the way to its border in the North. The race was known for pushing both the cars and the racers to their limit. Due to the multitude of fatalities the race was cancelled in 1955. The legacy of the race stuck with Jack Heuer and the Carrera Chronograph was a tribute to the famed race.



1969 saw the first major evolution in the Carrera Chronograph with the introduction of the reference 1153 featuring the brand new Calibre 11. The Calibre 11 was famous for being one of the world's first chronographs featuring an automatic movement. The coming decades would see the Carrera fade out of the now TAG Heuer lineup, finally being re-launched in the mid 1990s. This new Carrera was now larger and had a bolder aesthetic. In 2015 Tag Heuer updated the styling of the Carrera again with the inclusion of a glassbox style sapphire crystal that gave an unparalleled view of the dial. The watch we're going to be taking a look at today is the most modern interpretation of the Carrera Chronograph in a 39 mm stainless steel case. This is the second watch TAG Heuer and their PR partner Paul Wilmot have sent us, with the first being the Monaco Skeleton Chronograph. When you think about TAG Heuer, you instantly think of chronographs and the Monaco and Carrera collections. We're really excited to have our two first impressions of the modern TAG Heuer be through these two iconic watches.



The first thing we noticed about the Carrera Chronograph was the stunning Deep Blue dial. The dial features circular brushed finishing with the two chronograph subdials featuring concentric circles. Along with the polished applied indices and hands, the dial really just grabs your attention immediately.

The next thing that I noticed was the relative heft of the watch. I'm not saying the watch is heavy, but it definitely feels substantial in your hands. I've been handling a lot of ceramic, carbon and titanium watches recently, with most of them being a good bit larger than the 39 mm Carrera Chronograph that weigh less. At 89 grams, the Carrera Chronograph has a bit of weight to it. To many this is important, especially from the backlash I've seen online of people bashing lightweight titanium watches.



The last thing that grabbed my attention from my initial look at the Carrera Chronograph was its glassbox sapphire crystal. I had read a lot about this crystal design and have seen many pictures of it. I had also just reviewed the Monaco Skeleton Chronograph that also had a glassbox style design, but the Carrera really has to be seen to be appreciated. The easiest way to think about the glassbox design is to just imagine the watch having no bezel and a domed sapphire covering the entire space. The crystal is slightly domed on top, but sharply curves down to the case right over the chapter ring. It's an interesting way of displaying the dial for sure.



Now let's move on to the technical specs of the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph. The watch is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 39 mm. The lug to lug measurement is 45.5 mm and the watch weighs in at 89 grams. Being a chronograph with an automatic movement the case is a bit on the thicker side at 14.3 mm. The case features a mixture of both satin and polished surfaces, with the case sides mostly being satin and the top being polished. The mixture of finishes shows the duality of the watch being able to exist both in sports as well as luxury.



As mentioned before the dial is displayed under a domed sapphire crystal and is a deep blue color. All dial markers are done in high polish including the hands and applied stick indices. As for lume, only the centers of the hour and minute hands are lumed. At the top of each hour marker is also a small dot that is lumed as well. It's just enough to tell the time in low light conditions, but for anything more detailed in the dark you'll need to supply additional lighting.

At 12 o'clock you have the TAG Heuer logo as well as Carrera name. At 6 o'clock you have white backed date window. Typically I'd complain that the date window isn't color matched, but the white backed date window on the Carrera Chronogragh acts as the hour marker and works well. Also at 6 o'clock you have the running seconds hand. At 3 o'clock you have the chronograph 30 minute totalizer and at 9 o'clock you have the chronograph 12 hour totalizer. The chronograph seconds hand is the large center seconds hand. Finally around the outside of the dial and still under the domed sapphire crystal you have the tachymeter scale.



Flipping the watch over shows off the display case back housing the TAG Heuer in-house caliber TH20-00 automatic movement. The movement beats at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and features an 80 hour power reserve. The functions included are hours, minutes, seconds, date and chronograph. On our timegrapher the TH20-00 ran at -3 to -4 seconds per day of accuracy. While not the most accurate movement we have ever tested, the result is still within chronometer specifications.

The movement is a treat to look at and primarily features Geneva striping as its dominate finishing. The movement also has a skeletonized rotor in the shape of the TAG Heuer logo. You also get a nice cut out view of the column wheel, which lets you see it move when the chronograph is started and stopped.



The right side of the case features the two chronograph pushers as well as the non-screw down crown. The pushers as well as the crown are polished with the crown featuring the TAG Heuer logo on top. The crown is also scalloped nicely allowing for easy operation. I guess if you're super old school, it would be easy to operate with driving gloves.

The crown allows for manually winding in its pushed in position. Winding the watch has a nice feel to it and the winding is slightly audible. Pulling the crown out to position one allows the date to be set, while position two allows setting of the time. The Carrera Chronograph features a traditional chronograph where the top pusher starts and stops the chronograph while the bottom pusher resets it. The pushers require a decent amount of pressure to push with a rewarding click to them. Even with a non-screw down crown and a display back, the Carrera Chronograph offers 100 meters of water resistance. While this isn't enough to go diving with, it's more than enough to swim or snorkel with.



The lug width is 20.5 mm which tapers down to 18.5 at the deployant clasp. The watch comes on a dark blue leather strap with a black backing. The strap is extremely supple and never felt stiff or uncomfortable. One thing that modern TAG Heuer's have been offering on their straps is an adjustable deployant clasp. For one I'm a huge fan of deployant clasps on watches that are more than a few thousand dollars purely for the eliminating the possibility of dropping the watch while putting it on. Secondly I love being able to finely adjust the fit of a watch while I'm wearing it. Living in Austin Texas during the summer, there are constant times when your wrist will swell and finding a nice balance for your strap is sometimes impossible. The strap of the Carrera Chronograph has no pin holes in it and just slides through an enclosure you can lock in place. The basically allows you to have the strap be any length you want it to be. The double buttoned deployant clasp features the TAG Heuer logo and is polished on top and satin on the sides, mirroring the case finishing.



During my time with the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph I took it out during various outings including just normal errand running and going out to dinner and after work drinks. On the blue leather strap I feel the Carrera Chronograph skews a bit more to the formal side. With my typical dress of a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers, it was a bit dressy for me. TAG Heuer offers tons of strap options for the watch and I feel something like their perforated grey strap would have really suited me the best.

The watch is a lot smaller than the watches I typically wear, seeing its lug to lug length of 45.5 mm is smaller than the case diameter of the 48 mm Blancpain 500 Fathoms I just picked up. Part of running Hourstriker is the ability to see all kinds of watches in person and give a 39 mm watch a shot, which I would have never put on my wrist before. On my 7.25 inch wrist, the Carrera wore well mostly being centered on my wrist. The strap width to case width ratio was nice and kept the watch balanced. Given it's stainless steel case construction it did feel a bit top heavy when compared to something made out of a lighter weight material, but never felt heavy or gave me any wrist fatigue. I do prefer watch lugs to cover my wrist though, which at 45.5 mm lug to lug, the Carrera did not. I know the current trend is for watches to be smaller and the Carrera Chronograph is a callback to smaller vintage watches, but I feel the watch was just a little too small for me personally.



While out, the Carrera Chronograph didn't attract much attention. I feel the dark blue dial combined with the matching blue strap kind of makes the watch blend in. With some cities having lots of issues with watch related crimes, this might be considered a positive. If you did want a more extroverted version of the Carrera Chronograph, TAG Heuer definitely has you covered with watches like the Skipper that also has a blue dial but pairs it with multi-colored subdials and a bright chronograph center seconds hand. Even just changing the strap to something like a white or red strap would really make this Carrera Chronograph stand out more on the wrist.



I did use the Carrera Chronograph for its intended purposed and timed a few events. Most common was while barbequing and making tea at home. I also used it to time how long it took me to get from our house to a few local restaurants and bars we frequent. As expected the chronograph worked without a hitch and turned some of these boring drives into a competition of how fast I could get to each destination… safely of course.



When talking about alternatives to the Carrera Chronograph there are a few watches that really need to be compared to it based on their history with motorsports and precision timing. First up we have the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional on a leather strap featuring a sapphire crystal. The Speedmaster is a decent amount larger at 42 mm and is also crafted out of stainless steel. It comes with an in-house Omega movement with only 50 hours of power reserve, a whole 30 hour less than the Carrera. Like the Carrera the Speedmaster also has a great history to it, most notably going to the moon. The Speedmaster is also a little bit more than the Carrera's retail price of $6,450 at $7,800.



Next up we have the Rolex Daytona in stainless steel. For some crazy reason, Rolex does not offer the stainless steel Daytona on anything but a matching bracelet. The 40 mm stainless steel Daytona on a bracelet retails for $15,100 and is about $10,000 more than that on the aftermarket. This makes the Daytona effectively four times more expensive than the Carrera. For the price you're getting a Rolex in-house movement with 72 hour of power reserve and also one of the most sought after watches on the market. Is it worth the price of entry versus the Carrera and Speedmaster? Maybe to some, but I don't see the value in a $25,000 steel Daytona if purchased aftermarket. Even at its $15,100 retail price, the Daytona is a big ask.



Finally we have the new kid on the block in the IWC Pilot's Watch Performance Chronograph 41 AMG. This is IWC's new take on a motorsports watch that takes the standard Pilot's design and adds a tachymeter scale to the bezel. The watch only comes in a 41 mm titanium case, that when paired with the rubber strap retails for $9,800. The watch like all compared here also features an in-house IWC caliber with only 46 hours of power reserve. The IWC does look a bit more modern in terms of design than the other three options, but really doesn't have a classic version to hark back to.



For the $6,450 retail price of the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph, the watch does seem like it's worth its asking price when compared to the alternatives. Like the other three watches, the Carrera offers an in-house movement and boasts the longest power reserve. Just like the Daytona and Speedmaster, the Carrera also has a storied history mostly in motorsports. The glassbox sapphire crystal design also helps it stand out a bit more from the crowd. The new trend in watches is going smaller and the new sweet spot for case sizes is now 39 mm. The Carrera Chronograph is exactly that case size, so it should be more appealing to a larger audience then its 40 to 42 mm rivals.



Is the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Glassbox for me personally? I'd say it's not. I started collecting watches in the early 2000s and bigger and brasher was what I was raised on. This version of the Carrera is just a little too refined for me and a few millimeters too small as well. This glassbox design has been a smash hit for TAG Heuer and I can see why it's so popular. Just for my personal tastes, it's really not in my wheelhouse. TAG Heuer does produce Carrera models that are more my style though, like the Carrera Chronograph x Porsche 963. This model is larger at 44 mm, features a forged carbon bezel and a skeleton dial. I do have weird tastes compared to what is popular in the world of watches today though.



Would I recommend the Carrera Chronograph for somebody looking for a luxury chronograph that wasn't oversized. I would have no issues recommending this watch. It's a great looking watch and would work excellently as a daily wearer. If you didn't dress quite as casual as I do and maybe went to the office every day, the Carrera Chronograph would be a perfect watch that wouldn't attract the wrong kind of attention. The watch is based on a line of watches that are amongst the most important when looking at the history of the chronograph as well as watches in motorsports. The in-house movement is rock solid and has nearly perfect accuracy. There really aren't any reasons besides personal preferences not to recommend it.

We'd really like to thank TAG Heuer for sending us this Carrera Chronograph Glassbox and can't wait to see what they send us next. This Carrera Chronograph has been a great look into the glassbox models that have really made TAG Heuer just that much more popular over the last few years as well.



For more information about the Carrera Chronograph Glassbox please visit : TAG Heuer

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: CBS2212.FC6535

Retail Price: $6,450

Case Size: 39 mm

Lug to Lug: 45.5 mm

Thickness: 14.3 mm

Weight: 89 Grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Stainless Steel

Strap: Leather Strap with Adjustable Deployant Clasp

Movement: TAG Heuer TH20-00 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date, Chronograph

Power Reserve: 80 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters