TAG Heuer presents pièce de résistance to celebrate F1’s 75th anniversary

There are driver’s watches, there are car watches, there are motoring watches – and then there’s the Heuer Carrera. True, it wasn’t the first chronograph made specifically for automobilists, or even the first watch to be designed with motoring in mind. But there’s no denying that the Carrera has gone down in history as one of the most evocative driver’s timepieces of all, er, time…

For those who don’t know the oft-told story, it arrived in December 1963 after company boss Jack Heuer had visited the Sebring 12 Hours in the firm’s role as official timer. It was there that he met the parents of Mexico’s Rodriguez brothers (Ricardo and Pedro) who told him about the Carrera Panamericana road race – and Heuer latched on to the Carrera name as being ideal for a driver’s chronograph.

Heuer registered the word for exclusive use on watches before launching the Carrera with a 36mm steel case and a Valjoux 72 manual wind movement. Known as the ‘Carrera-12’ due to its 12-hour totaliser at six o’clock, it retailed in the US at $98.45 and became the default choice of pro drivers and enthusiastic amateurs.

Since then the Carrera name has appeared on more than 550 different references. And they keep on coming, as demonstrated by the launch of three new models in the Carrera Extreme Sport collection – a Twin-Time that combines a chronograph with a GMT function, another with a rose gold case and the pièce de résistance here – the Tourbillon Extreme Sport F1 75th Anniversary Limited Edition.

Made available in December as a grand finale to celebrate the 75th anniversary of F1, the watch has a brushed and sandblasted 44mm case topped by a yellow gold fixed bezel marked with the official F1 logo at 12 o’clock and with ‘75’ on the scale.

The heavily skeletonised dial gives a view onto the TH20-09 in-house tourbillon-regulated chronograph movement which features the column wheel and vertical clutch set-up that’s designed to give the smoothest possible action when using the stopwatch.

Turning it over reveals a sapphire crystal case back secured by a DLC-treated retaining ring and decorated with a victory wreath, inset. An integrated rubber strap with a titanium clasp is fitted in case anyone wants to take advantage of the 100m water resistance, and the watch is, of course, limited to 75 examples.

TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon Extreme Sport F1-75 Anniversary Limited Edition, £34,900. tagheuer.com

Singer Reimagined, the horological arm of Porsche restomod firm Singer Vehicle Design, has launched its retro-look Caballero. It’s powered by a patented Calibre-4 Solotempo movement, named after the quartet of mainspring barrels designed to deliver power more consistently than a single-barrel set-up. Lacquered dials are in black, green or blue, while the 39mm steel case is topped by a domed sapphire crystal and secured by either black or khaki textile bands or a blue leather strap.

Singer Reimagined Caballero, £16,478. singerreimagined.com

Last month in Precision we told the story of the horse-racing inspired Golden Miller chronograph by Brooklands. Now the niche brand is offering a series of new takes on its Triple-Four driver’s model. The ‘T4’ derives it name from the cylinder arrangement of the Napier-Railton kept at Brooklands Museum. The original watch had a plain white dial but the new Spectrum models can be had in blue, black, green and Navajo Sand, above, or white with black or green sub-dials. Fifty of each are available.

Brooklands Triple-Four Spectrum, £3900. brooklandswatches.com