Next weekend is an important milestone for one of the premier events in world motorsport, as it will see the running of the Indianapolis 500 for the 100th time. Even people who don’t follow motorsport closely will generally know of three races- the Monaco Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of LeMans and the Indy 500. While early races were held on a tar and gravel track, the immediate popularity of the races led to the owner of the circuit investing in upgrading the surface by paving the track with 3.2 million bricks, hence the nickname “the brickyard”. Even today there is a thin strip of bricks at the start/ finish line to link the track back to the past.
TAG Heuer has been associated with the Indy Series since 2004 and is the official timekeeper of the series. For watch fans this means one thing: a limited edition watch. Even better, this year it means three things, because while the Indy 500 watches since 2004 have been based on the Formula 1 series, for 2016 we have two new watches and a new dial for owners of the Connected watch.
The 2016 Indy 500 takes place on 29 May 2016, with the 2016 collection launched two weeks ago by Patrick Dempsey at the TimeCrafters exhibition in New York. Let’s take a closer look.
2016 Carrera Heuer-01 Indy 500 Edition- Reference CAR2A1V
Kicking off the range is a special edition of the titanium cased Carrera Heuer-01. The Indy 500 edition gains a special bezel with “Indy 500″text, while the skeleton ring sub-dial at 9 o’clock is replaced with a solid black disc carrying the logo of the Indianapolis Speedway.
The sapphire caseback displays the Heuer-01 in-house movement and is decorated with the special Indy 500 logo developed for this year’s milestone race.
2016 Formula 1 Chronograph Indy 500 Edition- Reference CAZ1016
The second watch in the Indy 500 series is a Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph. Like the Carrera, the bezel has red “Indy 500” markings, while the logo of the Indianapolis Speedway is inside the sub-dial at 6 o’clock.
The Formula 1 Indy 500 is available with either a steel bracelet (above), or a NATO-style strap, as shown below.
The steel caseback of the Formula 1 carries the same logo as that found on the Carrera, but this time is engraved on the solid caseback.
2016 Connected Indy 500 Dial
Finally, for Connected owners, there is a special dial for the Indy 500, offered in two variants- The Indy 500 logo and Orange detailing on either a black or white background.
Price and Availability
The 2016 TAG Heuer Indy 500 Collection is already on sale. Prices for the two models are as follows:
- Carrera Heuer 01 Indy- USD5,500
- TAG Heuer Formula 1 Indy- USD1,600
Both watches are limited editions, although no clarification yet on how many will be produced and whether the watches are numbered.
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