Just when you thought TAG Heuer could not tempt you with another chronograph option, the brand drops what might be the best counterpoint to the classic Carrera “Glassbox” model: the Carrera Extreme Sport. While more recent enthusiasts might think of certain Monaco models when considering the Extreme Sport, more seasoned hands will recall this treasured “open dial” style look from 2016. While this specific aesthetic has never really exited the TAG Heuer assortment, it has been running quietly in the Carrera collection. That ends here though because the new Carrera Extreme Sport affirms what TAG Heuer fans have known since the introduction of this original look: it is a keeper.
While the “Glassbox” style will certainly appeal to the collector who yearns for the spirit of Formula 1 of the 1960s, the Extreme Sport looks ready to drive into the future. This was the proposition in 2016 and it is back with six new watches featuring even more aggressive miens. There are four standard chronographs, all powered by the automatic TH20-00 calibre, and two chronograph tourbillons (still with the redoubtable calibre TH20-09 powering the action). Originally, the antecedent models would have been powered by the Heuer 02 movements. With more line evolution than extension, these new models take the place of all existing Extreme Sport models.
The aesthetic sensibility of the Extreme Sport has always been popular with TAG Heuer enthusiasts – the years in which it was the dominant part of the Carrera collection were also the ones where the brand reportedly sold the largest number of watches in the last 10 years, according to reports from Morgan Stanley. Given that the movements are all current, and appear to be unchanged, we will spend no more time on them. Instead, the radical transparency is worth a bit of a linger, if only to note that you may not see the motionworks all that well here. In fact, this look is really worth it if you want to draw attention, above and beyond the enthusiasts who will be able to appreciate the date revealer. This of course does not apply to the chronograph tourbillon TH20-09, which does not have a date function.
Watch collectors who think that ‘more’ is better will be pleased to note that all the watches feature bold combinations of materials. These include Grade 2 titanium, rose gold, ceramic, forged carbon and rubber; bezels in the chronograph tourbillon models are in forged carbon while regular models all use ceramic. All the watches are 44mm and are water-resistant to 100 metres. The aforementioned mix-and-match material playfulness was very much a part of the TAG Heuer story for a time – a feature it shared with fellow LVMH brands Hublot and Zenith.
We have yet to see the watches in the metal, as they say, so we reserve judgment on how all elements fit together. Also important is the legibility aspect, which TAG Heuer has emphasised in recent years and marks the more recent iterations of the Carrera chronograph. This will also require handling the actual watches because we have not even gotten into the various colours used on the dial. This is most obvious in the date ring but extends to the chronograph subdials. Once again, to close for now, the Extreme Sport is very much about ‘more,’ so more scrutiny is called for.
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