Review: Carrera Day Date Calibre 16
On the Wrist
At 43mm, this is a large watch. It’s not so much the diameter that gives it this “over-size” feel, but more the depth of the watch. You can see that the Day-Date is slightly deeper than the Calibre S (above left).
There are other deep TAG Heuer cases that don’t feel top-heavy on the wrist and that’s because of the way those straps meet the case. Take the Monaco Twenty-Four for example- the strap fits flush inside the lugs and is re-enforced with a rubber section at the end of the strap. This means that the watch never really moves around on your wrist because the weight of the watch-head is spread across the top of the strap.
The Carrera strap does not sit flush with the case (as you can see below) and so the weight is not spread out as effectively, meaning that it can feel heavy on the wrist.
Still, this watch will be bought by people looking for a watch larger than the standard Carrera, so if you want a larger watch, it follows that the watch is going to be heavier on the wrist than a smaller diameter model.
Designing the Next Carrera Day-Date
If I was handed the crayons to design the next version, I’d make several changes aimed at simplifying the dial and making it a little smaller. I wouldn’t change the overall look and feel of the watch, because those already work well.
- Case: Drop the diameter from 43 to 42mm and reduce the height of the case to reduce weight
- Delete the minute hash-marks from the dial
- Delete the words “Chronograph” and “Automatic” from the dial
- Use a thinner Day-Date window
- Make the applied “05-60″ numbers smaller
- To compensate for the smaller diameter case, use a thinner bezel and drop the tachy scale (as per Carrera 1887)
- Movement: Would be nice to use the Calibre 1887 instead of the Calibre 16
I think these changes are enough to keep the spirit of the design, but to make its appeal a little broader. Deleting the tachy scale? Controversial given that this is a Carrera, but given the breadth of the Carrera range today it doesn’t hurt to have some distinction between the various models.
Summary
The Carrera Day-Date Calibre 16 shows how the design of TAG Heuer’s flagship watches like the Carrera 360 eventually trickle down to more mainstream models- we’ve seen it with the Monaco V4 and hopefully there will be a mainstream Carrera soon that uses the design cues of the Mikrograph.
The Day-Date Carrera is not designed to appeal to everyone- that’s why there are so many models in the Carrera range. What the watch does give is a premium design that appeals to those looking for something bolder, larger and more modern than the standard Carrera Chronograph. I really like the overall design theme of the watch and it’s beautifully executed.
If you’ve ever wanted a Carrera 360, but don’t need to time events down to 1/ 100th of a second, then this one is just for you.
2013 Update
TAG Heuer has just announced a new version of the Carrera Day-Date- you can read the review here.
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Photos
Singapore GP Edition: PuristsPro
I think it could benefit from your changes David, but I would go further (which probably doesn’t come as that much of a surprise!). I’m not sure that it does look like a more modern design than the cleaner 1887 – it looks like one from a few years ago when the trend was for additive design (i.e. adding features to an existing watch). Even the watch world is beginning to catch onto what Jonathan Ives and his team have been doing with consumer electronics and we’ve seen some watches espousing more reductive design.
So what could we take away from the Day/Date?
1) I agree, but would shrink it a mm or 2 more. 41mm is big enough, 40 would be ok for me but this is a tall movement and we have to make sure it stays in proportion.
2) Yes, that additive design process has made the dial busy, so the hashmarks and “Automatic Chronograph” can go.
3) Whilst we’re at that, do we need to show water resistance on the dial? It’s a chrono, not a dive watch and the owner can read in the manual whether to take it for a swim or not. And the movement too. You can see the movement itself with its name on when you turn the watch over, do you need to be reminded of it on the dial every time you look at it? I vote no.
4) I always think a printed TAG-Heuer looks better than an applied one. That’s what the clone makers tend to use, it’s more effort for them to set print dies up than just use a bunch of applied logos across different watches.
5) Yes, the date window could do with being smaller. If anything the outside frame is too large, with too much taper on the white watch especially making it look heavy. Even painting the inside in dial colour would shrink the apparent size.
6) Numerals every 10 mins rather than 5 frees up a lot of dial space and immediately reduces the busyness.
7) Different sized registers isn’t something I’m fond of. It means the font differs between the perpetual seconds “register” and the other two, which makes 3 scripts for numbers as the applied ones are different again. Make them all the same size and follow the style through on the applied ones for visual consistency.
8) I’m not keen on the rings around the registers. It says Rolex Daytona more than it ever will Heuer Carrera and makes the registers visually overweight on the dial. If you want to emphasise the registers, then look back in company history and go for contrast registers. They would look good as “pandas” and “reverse pandas”.
There you go! I’ve changed it a bit more radically, but it’s a watch I would find nicer-looking. Mind you, after all that, I’d still prefer a 3-6-9 orientation and date window only, it’s not a watch aimed at me