Since its launch in 1963, the cheap replica TAG Heuer Carrera watches has been synonymous with speed, clarity, and performance on the racetrack. Jack Heuer designed it as a driver’s chronograph, stripped down to essentials with maximum legibility. Yet throughout its long life, the Carrera has never been a one-dimensional racetrack watch; it has adapted to aviation and yachting, and has adopted various styles. But if the Carrera’s history has long been about measuring seconds and elapsed times, moon phases were not absent from Heuer’s past. Vintage triple-calendar moon phase watches from the 1940s and 1950s hinted at another side of the brand. A more poetic facet, if you will, tied not to the racetrack but to the sky above, not forgetting the Seafarer, which in essence relied on a moon cycle complication for its tidal indications. With the new Carrera Astronomer, that heritage is reimagined in a very modern spirit.
The Astronomer stainless steel case is classic Carrera territory. The versatile 39mm case, which is water-resistant to 100 metres, has finely brushed and polished surfaces, sharp lugs and a domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective coating.
The news is the moon phase display, which immediately draws attention as it occupies a good part of the dial space and looks quite unusual. Forget traditional moon phase apertures. The Astronomer introduces a rotating disc that shows seven lunar stages across the full 29.5-day cycle. Pointers on a recessed disc track daily movement, and the disc advances each night at 1:00 AM, staying in rhythm with the Earth´s satellite above. It’s a scientific and functional take on one of watchmaking’s oldest complications, executed with clarity and precision.