The TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition, a colourful creation that pays homage to the brand’s heritage, blends the 1972 Montreal timepiece with the TAG Heuer Carrera of today.
La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland – 25 June 2020: After unveiling the TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Silver Dial Limited Edition at the beginning of the year to kick off the luxury watchmaker’s 160th anniversary, the brand is now introducing a second collector’s edition to mark the historic milestone: the TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition. “Montreal” was the name of a collection of luminous and captivating Heuer automatic chronographs launched in 1972. Now, the Montreal design makes a striking comeback in the form of an elegant 39 mm TAG Heuer Carrera that is limited to only 1,000 pieces.
“The Heritage Department selected the white Montreal design to mark TAG Heuer’s anniversary year because the piece is pure beauty and the colourful dial is full of joy. We played with the existing design codes and brought them to life in a bold new way, merging them with the Carrera spirit and breaking the rules in true TAG Heuer fashion,” says Catherine Eberle-Devaux, TAG Heuer Heritage Director.
Combining the heritage of two TAG Heuer greats: the Carrera and the Montreal
The creativity behind this limited-edition anniversary timepiece stems from the idea of fusing the designs and DNA of two iconic TAG Heuer watches. The new TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition is directly inspired by the White Heuer Montreal, reference 110503W, which launched in 1972. Today, it is an exceedingly rare collector’s item. For the anniversary model, TAG Heuer borrowed the original, perfectly balanced red, yellow and blue colour palette of the White Heuer Montreal. The bright dial is emblematic of the 1970s, when watch design was transformed by the ability to use coloured luminescent materials; this invention opened-up a fantastic new era of creativity, especially for Heuer.
Ten years earlier, in 1962, then-CEO Jack Heuer heard the story of the legendary Carrera Panamericana, one of the most treacherous road races in the world. The word carrera, which in Spanish can mean road, race, career or course, caught his attention: he knew immediately that this would be the perfect name for a new timepiece. The first Heuer Carrera chronographs left the factory the following year. As a lover of clean, modern design, Jack Heuer wanted the aesthetics of the Heuer Carrera chronograph to be pure and well-proportioned – features that make the watch perfect for drivers who need to see the time at a glance during adrenaline-pumping races.
These stories and designs all merge on the matte white dial of this special timepiece, which holds three stunning blue “azurage” counters. The chronograph minute counter at 3 o’clock stands out with three curved lines from 1 to 5, 10 to 15, and 20 to 25 that are coloured with yellow Super-LumiNova®. The same yellow Super-LumiNova® is also found on the central minute and hour hands, while the central chronograph seconds hand features a distinctively different bold red lacquer.
The dial is protected by a domed “glassbox” sapphire crystal. The polished stainless-steel timepiece paired with a blue alligator leather strap, reflecting the splash of colour on the dial. The unique limited-edition number of each piece is engraved on the case back, where the innovative Calibre Heuer 02 and its dedicated oscillating mass are visible through the sapphire crystal.
Vintage design with modern technology
The TAG Heuer Carrera line has always featured the most advanced technology that the brand has developed. Possibly the most significant difference between the Heuer Montreal and the modern limited-edition model is the movement within the timepiece. The tribute model is powered by the brand’s Calibre Heuer 02 manufacture movement. This sophisticated in-house innovation is entirely Swiss-made in TAG Heuer’s Chevenez manufacture. It comprises 168 components, including a column wheel and a vertical clutch – signatures of improved chronograph timekeeping and high-quality manufacture movements – and boasts an impressive power reserve of 80 hours.
TAG Heuer’s Calibre Heuer 02 manufacture movement offers five key benefits:
A power reserve of 80 hours – an increase of 30 hours compared to the Calibre Heuer 01.
A thinner movement, which allows for a thinner case design and improved comfort for the wearer. The thickness is 6.95 mm, compared to the Heuer 01’s 7.30 mm.
The vertical clutch improves the precision of the start-and-stop functions as well as the running of the chronograph second hand, meaning that there is no loss of time when using the chronograph function.
There is a column wheel, which provides more accurate and precise functionality – made noticeable by the smooth movement when manipulating the pushers.
Precision and greater stability with a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour).
Packaged in a special box that highlights the heritage of this prominent timepiece, the TAG Heuer Carrera 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition will be available exclusively in TAG Heuer boutiques and online at www.tagheuer.com for select countries in July 2020.
What better way to mark TAG Heuer’s 160th anniversary milestone than with a timepiece that takes the very best of two of the watchmaker’s most illustrious and appealing creations? Using its past to take off into the future, TAG Heuer continues to strengthen its DNA while staying at the cutting edge of innovation and on-trend design.
TAG Heuer CARRERA (39 mm) Calibre Heuer 02 Automatic – 160 Years Montreal Limited Edition
Reference CBK221C.FC6488
FACTS AND FIGURES
MOVEMENT
TAG Heuer Calibre HEUER 02 Automatic manufacture movement
DIAL
160th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Blue, white opaline dial, white flange with 60-second/minute scale
3 counters:
– 3 o’clock: blue “azurage” minute chronograph counter with yellow Super-LumiNova®
– 6 o’clock: blue “azurage” permanent second indicator
– 9 o’clock: blue “azurage” hour chronograph counter
Rhodium-plated minute and hour hands with yellow Super-LumiNova® Red lacquered central hand
Black printed HEUER logo
CARRERA SWISS printed on the dial
CASE
39 mm diameter polished steel case
Polished steel fixed bezel, domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment
Polished steel standard crown at 3 o’clock
Polished steel round push button at 2 o’clock
Polished steel round push button at 4 o’clock
Steel screw-down sapphire case back with special numbered limited-edition engraving
Water-resistant to 100 metres (10 bar)
STRAP
Blue alligator leather strap
Polished steel folding clasp with double safety push button
HEUER logo
Comes with a special box
Limited to 1,000 watches
Available from July 2020
About TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer, founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland, is a luxury watch brand that is part of LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton SE (“LVMH”), the world’s leading luxury group. Based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and with four production sites, TAG Heuer has 1470 employees and is active in 139 countries. TAG Heuer products are available online on the watchmaker’s website www.tagheuer.com for select countries and in 160 boutiques and 3,500 points of sale worldwide. The company is headed up by Stéphane Bianchi, CEO of the LVMH Watchmaking Division and CEO of TAG Heuer.
For 160 years, TAG Heuer has demonstrated pure avant-garde watchmaking spirit and a commitment to innovation with revolutionary technologies that have included the oscillating pinion for mechanical stopwatches in 1887, the Mikrograph in 1916, the first automatic-winding chronograph movement – Calibre 11 – in 1969, the first luxury smartwatch in 2015, and the ground-breaking Isograph technology in 2019, made possible through a unique collaboration with the TAG Heuer Institute. Today, the brand’s core collection consists of three iconic families designed by Jack Heuer – TAG Heuer Carrera, Monaco and Autavia – and is rounded out with the contemporary Link, Aquaracer, Formula 1 and Connected lines.
Capturing TAG Heuer’s motto, “Don’t Crack Under Pressure”, are prominent partnerships and brand ambassadors that express the brand’s passion for action and high performance. These include the Formula E World Championship, of which the brand is a founding partner, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team, the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Team, the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, the World Endurance Championships, the Indianapolis 500, legends Steve McQueen and Ayrton Senna, actors Chris Hemsworth and Patrick Dempsey, ATP next-generation tennis players Alex de Minaur, Frances Tiafoe, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger -Aliassime, and surfer Kai Lenny, among others.
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