First Impression: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 18

Ever since TAG Heuer’s CH80 was shelved due to a change of strategic direction, we’ve been a bit let down with where TAG is going. However, they do seem set on shedding some of the “fashion brand” reputation they’ve gained in the last decade or so, which is certainly a positive. Showing that they’d like to get back to more traditional designs, TAG Heuer made a pre-Basel announcement for a new Carrera, the Carrera Calibre 18.

Vintage Carrera — courtesy of Heuer World

Reminiscent of two-register Carreras from the 1960s, the Calibre 18 maintains vintage looks with a few modern twists. But before we get too far, let’s start with the most impressive characteristic: the case size. A lot of the recent releases from across the brands have shown the large watch trend regressing, and this Calibre 18 is no exception. Vintage fans and purists will be happy to find the case diameter of the Calibre 18 at a modest 39-millimeters. Unless you have Governator-sized wrists, 39mm will look good on just about anyone.

Continuing the vintage style is the dial with its applied stick markers, and “Heuer” logo – no “TAG” to be found. TAG also opted for a raised, domed sapphire crystal, which should give the appearance of the old “top hat” acrylic crystals of yesteryear. TAG is referring to the crystal as a “Glassbox”, which we’re not totally sure that what means yet. It’s possible there’s a solid sapphire case holding the movement and dial, or it could just be their new name for the updated “top hat” crystal. Surely this will be cleared up soon enough. The “panda” dial is also a throwback to old Carreras, and is often a favorite of ours when done right, which is the case here. At this point, the press photos all appear to either be renderings, or highly touched up black-and-white photos, so we’re curious to see if TAG adds any bits of color to the dial when it’s shown off in person at Baselworld. Calibre11 has a live shot, which shows no colors outside of greyscale, but it’s still early to close the book on that at this point. Many of the early Carreras featured the functional scale in blue or red, which might be a nice “tip of the cap” for the Calibre 18.

Speaking of the functional scale, TAG made an interesting choice with using a telemeter scale versus a tachymeter. As we all know, the Carrera is racing inspired, so a tachymeter would probably make the most sense. However, throwing common sense and tradition to the side, we actually like the idea of a telemeter. Let’s be honest, does anyone use the tachymeter on his or her chronograph anymore? At least with a telemeter, you can measure how far a storm is from your current location by timing lightning flashes and the subsequent thunder crash. Of course, if you find yourself facing mortar fire, you’ll be in good hands with the telemeter scale there as well. At any rate, the use of a telemeter scale is already catching some flak from the community, but it doesn’t really bother us much.

Calibre 18 live shot courtesy of Calibre11

The case of the Calibre 18 has classic Carrera straight lugs and pump pushers, just like its design predecessor. Without the date function at 6:00, and the “Calibre 18” on the dial, this could have come straight from the 1960s. Of course, upon flipping it over, you’ll find a modern movement as well. The Calibre 18 movement is one of TAG’s newest, and is a modular chronograph powered by the Selitta SW300 as the base, and the Dubois Depraz DD-2223 as the module. The use of an in-house chronograph would have been nice, but we’re just as happy to see TAG reel in their design, bringing things back to basics.

With Baselworld only a month or so away, TAG Heuer is getting ahead of the game with a very nice release. We don’t expect the Carrera Calibre 18 to be their “mic drop” release, but it’s hopefully a sign of good things from the LVMH watchmaker. If they’re going to sit tight in the sub-Omega/Rolex/Breitling price range, these are the kinds of designs they need to pump out.

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