TAG Heuer Carrera 1964 Re-Edition

The original Heuer Carrera ran from the 1960s to the 1980s, its look shifting slightly as trends changed, ultimately taking on the cushion case design and automatic movements of the late 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, after Heuer was bought by Technique Avant Garde (TAG), the Carrera line was discontinued. However, in the mid-1990s TAG Heuer realized that its classic designs still held value in the commercial market, and decided to re-release two historical watches: the square-cased Monaco and the Carrera. 

On the whole, the 1964 Carrera Re-Edition remained true to the look of its predecessor, featuring a 36mm case defined by its long faceted lugs and a bold, open dial with recessed subsidiary registers. While triple register '60s Carreras were powered by the Valjoux 72, the Re-Edition references used the Lemania Caliber 1873.

This particular example, a Reference CS3111, dates to the mid 1990s and features a stainless steel case, matte black Tritium dial with white accents and applied indices, and a matching luminous handset. Fitted to a a perforated black Ralstra strap with a signed pin buckle and all of its original goodies.

The 1964 Carrera Re-Edition is important in that it set a precedent for TAG Heuer - and perhaps the industry at large - by reissuing one of its classic designs, a practice that has become widespread in the two and half decades since. By re-introducing their legacy designs, TAG Heuer exposed the brand's own history to a new generation of watch collectors, instead of letting it languish in their archives. It's a testament to Jack Heuer's leadership in design that the Carrera remains popular - and will certainly continue to be for generations to come. 

In 1962, Jack Heuer inherited the company that his great-grandfather had founded in Saint-Imier nearly a century before.
He had already played a role in the design of some timepieces, starting with the Solunar in the late 1940s. But in 1962, the responsibility of running the company fell on his shoulders, and he found himself faced with the daunting task of safeguarding his ancestor’s legacy while at the same time forging his own. His chosen path? Moving into a line of technical instruments for use in sporting and transportation applications.
The Heuer name was not unknown in motor racing and aviation circles. Starting in 1911, when the sport of automobile racing was still in its infancy, the company produced dashboard clocks for cars, boats, and even airplanes. Jack Heuer, a longtime racing aficionado, saw an opportunity to revitalize — or at the very least, to reexamine — the company’s already-successful line of chronographs.
He had first tried his hand with the Autavia, which at the time of his succession was a stopwatch with a virtually illegible dial. In its place he launched the line of Autavia wrist chronographs, the first line of chronographs produced by Heuer to be named, rather than simply numbered. The Autavia was purpose-built for racers and pilots, and attracted the attention of Formula 1 racers and devotees such as Jochen Rindt and Steve McQueen.
In designing the Carrera in 1963, Jack Heuer created something that was entirely his, and is without question the chronograph that is most associated with the brand today. Heuer's obsession with legibility led to a dial design that was simpler to read than the Omega Speedmaster or the Rolex Daytona (released the same year as the Carrera). What resulted was a chronograph with plain baton markers that gave only the most necessary bits of information — clean, uncluttered, undeniably attractive.
The brand grew to become a powerhouse in chronographs in particular, and the list of famous designs from the 1960s and 1970s can’t be counted on two hands. However, one innovation from 1969 deserves particular mention: the famed Caliber 11. This caliber (and its successors) was the result of a multinational race to build the world’s first automatic chronograph movement. It would go on to power the famed Monaco — made famous by actor Steve McQueen — as well as automatic versions of the Autavia, Carrera and more.
Falling on hard times in the wake of the Quartz Crisis, Heuer was ultimately purchased by Technique Avant Garde (TAG), and subsequently by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey, who brought the brand into the modern age. Early TAG Heuer quartz divers from the 1980s have found newfound appreciation in collector’s circles, while the brand’s modern catalog is a mix of vintage-inspired reissues and unique collections, such as the Connected smartwatch line.

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We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a one-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.

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