Introducing: Tag Heuer Carrera ‘Glassbox’ Chronograph In Purple (Live Pics – Oh, And A Tourbillon)
What We Know
If you were waiting in anguish for a deep plum-colored dial on a Carrera Chronograph, well, Tag Heuer never meant to cause you any sorrow. They never meant to cause you any pain. Now, folks will get to see you laughing. Laughing, in the purple… Carrera Chronograph. Okay, that doesn’t really work, but you know what, I hope you get the point. The artist formerly (and also still) known as the Carrera Chronograph now comes in a gradient purple-to-black burst sunray-finished dial. And it’s a looker.
If you know the “glassbox” Carreras, then you can breeze past most of this. The new watch is still 39mm by 13.86mm thick, with a 46mm lug-t0-lug, 100m of water resistance, and horological motivation provided by the TH20-00 column wheel vertical clutch automatic chronograph movement. That movement has a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, date and running seconds at 6 o’clock, and 12 hour counter at 9 o’clock. The movement has 80 hours of power reserve, placed in a nice high-polish and brushed steel case, rhodium-plated facetted, polished applied indexes, and a black calfskin strap with purple contrast stitching and purple calfskin lining.
The new Carrera Chronograph in purple is available now as one of the brand’s LVMH Watch Week drops and will run CHF 6,500. If the pricing structure doesn’t change, looking at the other options available from Tag Heuer that should equate to around $6,600 in the United States.
What We Think
Last year, Tag Heuer brought us the Carrera Dato in green, but besides a blue option in the catalog already, this is one of the first tri-counter Carrera Chronographs with a colorful dial, and I like it quite a bit. Of all the colors they could have chosen, this is maybe both the most surprising and – now that I’ve seen it – the most attractive.
There aren’t a ton of really successful purple dials on the market. Yes, there’s Moser’s Streamliner, Christopher Ward’s The Twelve (TI), DeBethune has the DB28 XS Purple Rain, Oris has the Aquis Hölstein Edition from 2023, then the M.A.D.1.S. for “the Tribe,” plus there’s a few from Omega, Zenith, and Rolex – okay, that’s a solid number of options. But while most purple watches trend loud and unwearable for many people, this new purple dial is a bit quieter and subtle while still maintaining a punch and a nice bit of variety from your standard black, grey, blue, or green watches that are more popular.
We’ve written a lot about the new generation of the “Glassbox” Carreras in the past (here, here, here, and here), and that makes a lot of sense. It’s the most commercial option that will work for most customers. But just like with the green “Dato” last year, Tag Heuer is also offering an up-market Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon that I got to photograph, so I figured I’d do a mini “review-within-a-review.” We have to go deeper.
The TH20-09 movement in the Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon uses a column wheel vertical clutch chronograph like the more simplified TH20-00 movement, but adding a tourbillon both increases energy usage (resulting in 65 hours of power reserve) and stabilizes the rate, which would allow the use of lighter balance wheels. One person in the movement-making industry told me that these movements are highly accurate, though the watch isn’t COSC-certified like its predecessor, the Caliber 02T.
It’s also bigger than the non-tourbillon version at 42mm by 14.33mm thick, but the width of the watch isn’t actually that noticeable on the wrist. I’ve never really considered these models that closely – at CHF 34,000, it’s no bargain – but I actually enjoyed wearing it more than I expected. There’s almost certainly a world in which people who can easily afford the Carrera Chronograph might be looking for something a bit more up-market and more unusual, and the tourbillon fits the bill and wears comfortably.
The picture below is of the TH20-09 movement of the chronograph tourbillon but represents the overall finishing of the Carrera Chronograph (sans-tourbillon) pretty well. It’s industrially produced, lacking hand-finishing that you’d normally associate with tourbillons, but at the same time, it’s the correct quality for the money. Other things, like the domed “glassbox” crystal and the highly polished surfaces of the lugs, show good attention to detail that pushes the Carrera Chronograph into my list of “things I want in rotation to wear someday.”
The Basics
Brand: Tag Heuer
Model: Carrera Chronograph
Reference Number: CBS2219.FC6607
Diameter: 39mm
Thickness: 13.9mm thick
Case Material: Stainless steel
Dial Color: Smoky purple sunray burst
Indexes: Rhodium-plated facetted, polished applied indexes
Lume: White Super-LumiNova
Water Resistance: 100m
Strap/Bracelet: Perforated black calfskin leather strap with black stitching and purple calfskin lining on the reverse with tone-on-tone stitching; Fine brushed, polished steel folding clasp with double safety push-buttons; Tag Heuer shield
The Movement
Caliber: Caliber TH20-00
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, and chronograph
Power Reserve: 80 hours
Winding: Automatic, bidirectional rotor
Frequency: 4Hz
Jewels: 33
Additional Details: Column wheel chronograph
Pricing & Availability
Price: CHF 6,500
Availability: Immediately
Limited Edition: No
For more, click here.
Hodinkee
