TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport Rose Gold Review

Long before I had purchased my first watch, TAG Heuer was a well known brand to me. Growing up a TAG Heuer watch was one of the first aspirational products known to me.I can't even remember how it came into my possession, but at some point in my pre-teens I even had a fake TAG Heuer. I think I must have found it, but honestly can't remember. I've also been around TAG Heuer watches constantly in my life as a watch collector and also throughout my time in the watch industry. After starting Hourstriker, we've also had the pleasure of reviewing some of the newest releases from the brand.

Today we'll be looking at a slightly up market model from TAG Heuer, but before we get into that let's first go over a brief history of the brand. Before there was TAG Heuer, there was Heuer which was founded by Edouard Heuer in St-Imier Switzerland in 1860. From the very beginning, Heuer was focused on chronographs and precision timing. Heuer created the oscillating Pinion in 1887 that drastically simplified the construction and manufacturing of chronographs. It was a revolutionary design and one that is still commonly used today.



In the early 20th century Heuer also became well known for their stopwatches. The Time of Trip was released in 1911 as a dashboard chronograph for cars and aircraft which cemented the brands relationship with racing. In 1916, the Mikrograph was released which was the first stopwatch capable of measuring 1/100th of a second. With this invention, Heuer became the official timer of many following Olympic Games.

Heuer really found their footing under the great grandson of Edouard, Jack Heuer. Jack was an amazing designer and master marketer. Jack noticed the direct link between watches and racing and forged full steam ahead in making Heuer the de facto racing timepiece, even becoming the unofficial watch of the Formula 1 paddock.

Under Jack Heuer's leadership Heuer released their three most respected models. 1962 saw the release of the Autavia, following in 1963 was the Carrera and finally the Monaco in 1969. All three of these models were drastically different and really pulled their own weight in making Heuer the racer's choice of watch.



The 1970s and 80s were brutal on the Swiss watch industry and Heuer was one of the brands hit hardest. The market during that time was flooded with cheap and accurate Japanese quartz watches, on the other hand Heuer mechanical watches were complicated and expensive. This downturn in business forced Heuer to sell. The buyer was also heavily involved in Formula 1 as a partner with McLaren. The new owners of Heuer were none other than Techniques d'Avant Garde, or TAG, which was a high-tech holding company led by Akram Ojjeh. As soon as the acquisition was complete, the company was renamed TAG Heuer.

Under TAG's ownership, the brand shifted from pure mechanical tool watches to an era of producing luxury sports watches that appealed to a larger buying audience. This saw the release of the massively popular and affordable quartz powered Formula 1 series. Also the S/el (Sports/Elegance) collection was released with its iconic link bracelet. While purists might see this era as the brand turning its back on Heuer's roots, it was crucial to the survival of the brand.



The success TAG Heuer was seeing didn't go un-noticed. In 1999, luxury group LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), ended up fully acquiring TAG Heuer. This is the version of the brand we see today. Under LVMH, TAG Heuer both celebrates its history and heritage as well as pushes what is possible with high-tech watchmaking. Models like the Carrera and Monaco are treated with the respect they have earned and new models like the Connected see what is possible with the future of watchmaking. Enthusiasts once again see TAG Heuer as a truly authentic brand and the recent sponsorship of Formula 1 makes the brand the most important watch brand in motorsports.



Initial Thoughts

Having gone over the history of TAG Heuer, let's now take a closer look at the Carrera we'll be reviewing today. The Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sports is the boldest model in the Carrera collection. Making this particular watch standout even more is the fact that it is crafted out of stunning 18k 5N rose gold. 5N is the Swiss standard for gold, the N stands for Normes Industrielles de l'Horlogerie Suisse (NIHS) and the 5 stands for the color, with 5 meaning "red" gold.



Naturally when the watch arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was the brilliant rose gold case. The richness of the gold contrasts nicely with the blackened titanium used on the non-gold portions of the case. Rose gold keeps the watch from looking over the top like yellow gold would have. For some reason the gold Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport comes off looking somewhat subtle. The gold case even makes the sporty nature of the watch seem more grown up.

The next thing I noticed about the Carrera Extreme Sport was the weight of the watch. Typically gold watches are very heavy, so when I picked the watch up and it felt light, I was genuinely shocked. TAG Heuer is able to keep the watch reasonably lightweight due to the liberal use of titanium throughout the watch. If the watch was purely made from gold, it would weigh drastically more than the 111 grams our scale showed with the watch on the rubber strap and titanium deployant clasp. For being 44 mm, that weight is respectable even if the watch fully done in titanium.



The last thing I took notice of during my initial time with the Carrera Extreme Sport was the mesmerizing skeleton dial. The watch isn't a true skeleton where you can see straight through the watch, but more the dial has been cut away to show things such as the date wheel. TAG Heuer uses a lot of black and grey on the dial to contrast nicely with the gold of the case, hands and sub-dials. Overall the open worked dial really makes the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport look like a very complex timing machine.



Technical Specifications

Having gone over both the history of TAG Heuer and my initial thoughts of the rose gold Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport, let's now go over the technical specifications of the watch. The Extreme Sport is crafted out of 18K 5N (red) gold and titanium and has a case diameter of 44 mm. The lug to lug length is 48.7 mm, which means while the watch has a large case diameter, the relatively short lug to lug length lets the Carrera Extreme Sport fit a variety of wrist sizes. Surprisingly, the Carrera Extreme Sport only weights 111 grams when on the rubber strap and titanium deployant clasp. At its thickest point, the Carrera Extreme Sport is 15.3 mm tall.



The Carrera Extreme Sport has a slight raised domed sapphire crystal that has an anti-reflective coating. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire is the open worked skeleton dial. Around the outside of the dial is a gold minute track with each minute represented by a black printed hash mark. Each five minute or one hour mark is set with white Super-LumiNova which glows green in low light. Moving in is a grey ring which has white hash marks for each minute and each hour is done in an applied rose gold block marker.

The actual dial is made up of cut away bridges that have a black grained texture to them. At 12 o'clock there is the Carrera and TAG Heuer branding, with Swiss Made printed in white at 6. Some of the top of the movement along with the gear train is visible through the dial. The gold date wheel is also fully exposed and adds a great amount of visual interest to the dial.

There are three centrally mounted hands on the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport being the hour, minute and chronograph seconds hands. The hour and minute hands are done in gold and feature matching Super-LumiNova to that found on the hour markers. The chronograph seconds hand is fully done in gold.



There are three sub-dials on the Carrera Extreme Sport as well. At 3 o'clock you have the minute totalizer for the chronograph. The ring of the sub-dial is done in gold with 10, 20 and 30 printed in black. Around the outside of the sub-dial is a black ring with hash marks for the minutes. The skeletonized hand is done in black and gold. At 6 o'clock you have the running seconds sub-dial which has a black ring with white printed hash marks for seconds. The hand has a gold center and black hand. Finally at 9 o'clock is the hour totalizer for the chronograph. The look of the hour sub-dial mimics that of the seconds sub-dial with 4, 8 and 12 done in black printed Arabic numerals. There is also a black portion of the dial at 6 o'clock under the date wheel which indicates the current date.

Moving on from the dial is the fixed rose gold bezel. The bezel is set with a tachymeter scale from 400 to 60. The tachymeter is used in conjunction with the chronograph to measure average speed over a known distance. You simply start the chronograph at the beginning of the distance and stop it at the end. The number the central chronograph hand points to on the bezel is the average speed in units per hour.

The case of the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport is mostly brushed in finish with some polished areas, alluding to the timepiece being a tool watch. Looking at the profile of the watch you can see that the case has a slight curve to fit your wrist better. The mid case has a satin finish and features three horizontal cutouts, really enhancing the architectural look of the watch. The lugs are also partially hollowed out as well.



The right hand side of the watch features black PVD titanium pushers and a non-screw down crown. Even without the screw down crown, the Carrera Extreme Sport offers a more than respectable 100 meters of water resistance. You can manually wind the automatic movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one lets you set the date and allows you to watch the exposed date wheel turn. The final crown position stops the running seconds hand and lets you set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand either.

The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport is a traditional chronograph and not a flyback. This means that the chronograph needs to be stopped before it can be reset. The top pusher at 2 o'clock starts and stops the chronograph, while the bottom pusher at 4 resets the chronograph when stopped. Both pushers offer a good deal of resistance and result in a nice click when depressed. Resetting the chronograph also results in an extreme satisfying snap.

Flipping the watch over shows off the display case back made out of PVD titanium and a smoked sapphire crystal. Important information about the watch is engraved into the bezel of the case back such as the water resistance and case number. The silver victory wreath is also found on the bezel of the Carrera Extreme Sport and actually really stands out on the black background.



Under the smoked sapphire you can see the Swiss Made in-house TH20-00 automatic movement. The watch is topped with a TAG Heuer branded skeletonized winding rotor that is brushed in finish. The most prominent finishing technique seen on the main plates is Cotes de Geneve. Very prominent on the movement is the blackened column wheel. Starting, stopping and resetting the chronograph is also fun to watch, since you can see various chronograph components moving.

The TH20-00 beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and has a more than weekend proof 80 hours of power reserve. The functions for the movement are chronograph, hours, minutes, seconds and date. On our timegrapher the TH20-00 showed an accuracy of -1 second per day when averaged out over several positions. This is an extremely accurate result and even within chronometer standards.

The Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport has a lug width of 22 mm and the black rubber strap is mounted with standard spring bars. The black rubber strap covers the end of the lugs and has a width of 25.3 mm at the bottom of the lugs and tapers down to 20 mm at the PVD titanium deployant clasp with TAG Heuer branding. The deployant offers around 10 mm of micro-adjustments through a slider on the side of the clasp. The rubber strap does need to be cut roughly to your wrist size to work with the strap though. The strap is smooth on the top side and textured on the back to keep the watch in place. The rubber is also very supple and required no break in to be comfortable.





On The Wrist

The most remarkable thing about the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport in rose gold on wrist is that the watch does not wear like a gold watch. I'm very used to wearing rose gold Royal Oak Offshores from Audemars Piguet which share the same 44 mm case diameter with the Carrera Extreme Sport, but they do not share their weight. Wearing a rose gold Royal Oak Offshore is like wearing a solid gold brick on your wrist, you feel every gram of that watch. Honestly if I was color blind and wasn't looking at the watch, I'd have no idea that I was wearing a gold watch when the Carrera Extreme Sport was on wrist. Like I mentioned earlier, for its size the watch wears similar to how a titanium watch would. It even feels substantially lighter than a stainless steel watch would of the same size.

This just means that the Extreme Sport is a treat on the wrist. During every day errands the watch pretty much disappears on the wrist and is only there when you want to look at it or check the time. The rubber strap having a clasp with micro-adjustments also means that the strap can be adjusted until it fits just right. We've been having a rollercoaster of weather here in Austin, with it being in the 90s one afternoon and in the 30s the next morning. During these temperature swings, I was able to make slight adjustments to the clasp to have the watch fit perfectly at all times.

The aesthetic of the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport is mostly black and rose gold. My normal dress of a black t-short, shorts and sneakers worked perfectly with the look of the watch. Typically you think of gold watches being more formal and that is the furthest from the truth with the Extreme Sport. I feel the usage of black PVD titanium and rubber highlight the warm tones of the rose gold case, but also make the watch seem extremely sporty. The open worked dial also adds to the look of a more casual watch. I do feel that if the rubber strap was switched over to a black leather strap, that the watch would do just fine in more grown up / formal settings, making it very versatile.



To test the legibility of a watch, I use a simple test where I see how easy it is to tell the time at just a glance. In this test dive watches do the best with their high contrast dials and large markers, while skeleton and complicated watches do the worst since they focus more on design than legibility. With that being said, the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport kind of went into the test being both a skeleton and complicated piece, so my hopes weren't high for it. Not too surprisingly the watch was a bit hard to tell the time on at just a glance. There is so much going on with the dial and the added open worked bridges did make deciphering the time a bit more difficult. When you did catch your bearings though, it didn't take too long to make the time out. When the skeleton dial is removed from the equation and you just use the lume to tell the time in low light situations, the time is much easier to make out quickly. So a mixed bag in terms of this test, but honestly the Extreme Sport isn't designed with legibility being the most important thing in the watch's design.

Wearing the Extreme Sport out seemed to attract a lot of attention. Since the watch has a rather large 44 mm case diameter and is clad in rose gold, the watch makes a statement on the wrist. While I only had a handful of people comment on the watch, I did notice it gather a lot of looks. While out for dinner and drinks I showed some friends the watch and they all loved the look of the open worked dial as well as the rose gold case. Most people also commented on how lightweight the watch was. Most also thought the price was in-line for a gold watch.



Value and Position in the Market

Speaking about price, the rose gold TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport retails for $22,650. For that price you're getting a large case made out of rose gold and titanium housing an incredibly accurate in-house chronograph movement. Now is the time in the review where we compare the Carrera Extreme Sport to other watches with similar features and specifications to see how good of a value it is.



First up with have the Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional from Omega which has a 42 mm case made out of Sedna gold. The Speedmaster is a more traditional watch to the more aggressive look of the Carrera Extreme Sport. The Speedmaster runs on an in-house automatic chronograph movement with only 50 hours of power reserve and the watch has 50 meters of water resistance. The Speedmaster is much more expensive than the Carrera Extreme Sport at $34,000.

Next up is the Daytona from Rolex which has a 40 mm case crafted out of Everose gold. Like the Carrera, the Daytona has also cemented itself as a staple in motorsports. The Daytona is powered by an in-house automatic movement with 72 hours of power reserve and has 100 meters of water resistance. Like the Speedmaster, the Daytona is much more expensive than the Carrera Extreme sport at $39,300.

Moving on is the Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 from IWC which has a 41 mm case made out of 5N red gold. The watch has the classic pilot's watch look to it, but IWC has been integrating their pilot's watches with Formula 1 over the past few years. The Pilot's Watch is powered by an in-house movement with 46 hours of power reserve and has 100 meters of water resistance. The IWC is a bit more expensive than the TAG Heuer at $26,600.



Finally we have the Big Bang UNICO from Hublot which has a 44 mm case made out of King Gold. The Big Bang is similar to the Carrera Extreme Sport featuring an open worked dial. The watch is powered by an in-house flyback chronograph movement with 72 hours of power reserve. The Big Bang also has 100 meters of water resistance like the Carrera Extreme Sport. The Big Bang is much more expensive than the Carrera Extreme Sport at $47,000.

Looking at these four watches, you can tell that the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport offers a ton of value for the asking price. Obviously the Extreme Sport is expensive, but we are looking at gold watches with in-house movements after all. Between these four watches the Carrera Extreme Sport does offer pretty much top end specs while coming in thousands under the next least expensive watch, showing its value.



Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport for me? In all honesty, the Extreme Sport checks off a ton of boxes of what I look for in a personal watch. While I do prefer titanium, ceramic and carbon in my personal pieces due to their lightness, I still really love gold watches, in particular rose gold. Through handling tons of gold watches over the years, I've come to expect them to be heavy, so the fact that the Extreme Sport in rose gold is just over 100 grams while being a large watch just blows my mind. Combining rose gold with titanium is also very cool to me, obviously this is how TAG was able to keep the weight down. Some might see this as a cost saving measure, but I see it as a weight saving tactic, and a positive.



The Extreme Sport is a bit under the 50 mm lug to lug length that I prefer, but in rose gold the watch has amazing wrist presence. There is a slight flare out to the rubber strap, so the watch wears a little larger as well. While the open worked dial might not be the best for legibility, it is just such an interesting dial to look down at. I also love that TAG Heuer added micro adjustments to the clasp, meaning the watch will be comfortable in any weather, which I got to test during the wild weather swings we've been having here in Austin. So wrapping it up, I do feel Carrera Extreme Sport fits well into my personal collection of mostly sports and dive watches, also it would be the only gold watch in my collection.

Would I then recommend the Carrera Extreme Sport to somebody looking at adding a bold chronograph in gold to their collection? I really would without any hesitation. The one thing I think could be improved upon in the watch is that is uses a standard chronograph instead of a flyback chronograph. On the other hand, the watch is much less expensive than other gold chronographs from top brands and has the longest power reserve, so I guess you can't have everything and there are tradeoffs. Otherwise, the Extreme Sport is just a great watch all around. The Carrera Extreme Sport could even be used in more formal settings if paired with a leather strap, while on rubber it's a great daily wearer though. On top of that the in-house automatic movement is amongst one of the most accurate calibers we've tested over the past two years. TAG Heuer has a very large retail presence, so if you like the look and specs of the Extreme Sport it shouldn't be too hard to find one to play with in the metal.



I'd really like to thank TAG Heuer for sending us this watch to review. While we have reviewed a few Carrera and Monaco watches, they have all been in cases made out of titanium, steel or carbon. It was refreshing to see a TAG Heuer in precious metal and even a bit mind blowing to see that there was not much of a weight penalty for going with a gold case. TAG Heuer has been releasing some extreme exciting models recently, so I can't wait to get some of those new models in soon to take a closer look at.

For more information about the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport please visit : TAG Heuer



Technical Specifications

Reference Number: CBU2051.FT6273

Retail Price: $22,650

Case Size: 44 mm

Lug to Lug: 48.7 mm

Thickness: 15.3 mm

Weight: 111 grams

Case Material: 18K 5N Rose Gold and DLC Titanium

Bezel: 18K 5N Rose Gold

Strap: Black Rubber Strap with DLC Titanium Deployant Clasp with Micro Adjustments

Movement: Swiss Made In-House TH20-00 Automatic Movement

Functions: Chronograph, Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Date

Power Reserve: 80 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters