TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Jack Heuer Edition – Bullhead Chronograph

TAG Heuer and chronographs go hand-in-hand and since we love chronographs here at Fratellowatches, we thought it is about time to zoom-in on one of the coolest chronographs we saw at the BaselWorld show this year. Dedicated to the man behind the Carrera, Jack Heuer, TAG Heuer came up with a very nice chronograph with their in-house caliber 1887 movement. Even better, they decided to use the design of a stopwatch and put it inside a watch case (with a strap). This means, that this watch has the classic bullhead chronograph design as you’ve probably seen from other brands in the past as well. TAG Heuer’s special piece this year, the Carrera MikroPendulumS has the same Bullhead design.

The TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Jack Heuer edition is a large (45mm) wrist watch made out of titanium with a black titanium carbide coating. With its fine brushed finish, a very elegant looking sports watch. The center case (or ‘stopwatch’ part) is in a stainless steel cage with both polished and satin finished facets. Although we don’t mind some polished edges on sports watches, we think a matt finish is the way to go to underline the fact that it is a ‘tool watch’ in the end.

The bezel is a combination of the same material as the case and a nice fine brushed and sand-blasted stainless steel. At 12 o’clock, you will see the winding and setting crown of the watch and the start/stop and reset pusher for the chronograph. We’ve seen a number of Bullhead chronographs in the past, some fetching interesting price at auctions and in the world of collectors. Bullhead chronographs were made by Seiko, Omega, Bulova and by some long gone brands that didn’t survive the quartz crisis in the 1970s. TAG Heuer recently revived the bullhead with their MikroGirder and MikroPendulum(S) models and now with this special Carrera Jack Heuer Edition.

Despite the watch having a Bullhead design, the dial can be easily identified as a Carrera watch dial. A combination of a grey dial with a silver center both with a Sunray effect. If you hold this watch in the sun light under certain angles, you will immediately know why it is being called this way. The dial will really come alive. The dial has two sub dials, at 3 o’clock for the chronograph minute recorder and at 9 o’clock for the chronograph hour counter. The small hand at 12 o’clock has no sub dial but is the running seconds hand (normal time). The chronograph seconds hand is of course the central one in bright red. The indexes and TAG Heuer logo are all hand applied to the dial and all is covered under a sapphire crystal.

As you can see, the small chronograph hands have red tips, to match with the red chronograph second hand. The TAG Heuer Carrera is about details, always has been. The hour and minute hands are silver colored and have a cool polished finish. Both are filled with luminous material so you will be able to read time in the dark.

Below the normal small seconds hand and the mentioning of the in-house developed chronograph caliber 1887 is a date aperture. Although is normally is easily disturbing a fine chronograph dial, we think it is quite subtly done here. There is no ugly frame around the aperture and the edges are nicely finished with a 45 degrees cut-out. Also to prevent creating an optical large gap between the dial and the date disc probably.

Inside this watch, TAG Heuer installed their in-house chronograph caliber 1887 movement. It has a power reserve of approximately 50 hours, 40 hours when the chronograph is running according to the official specifications. TAG Heuer recently also introduced their caliber 1969 movement, another in-house developed chronograph movement. More information on chronograph movements can be found here and here in our weekly Fratello Friday articles on our partner’s website (WatchTime USA).

The TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Jack Heuer Edition goes by the reference CAR2C11.FC6327 and comes on a nice black alligator strap. The price of this stunning tribute to Jack Heuer is $7800 USD.

You can find more information about this watch here at the official product page on TAG Heuer’s website. Another interesting and more in-depth review can be found here on the Calibre 11 website. However, if you are a TAG Heuer fan, we are sure you are familiar with it.

Also make sure to read our interview with Jack Heuer we did a while ago.