The TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Range

Work on the Grand Carrera started in 2004 and it was three years before the watch was released in June 2007. Like many contemporary TAG Heuer models, the Grand Carrera was designed by Christoph Behling. At the time the Grand Carrera was announced there were three models in the range:

• Grand Carrera Calibre 6RS (40mm case, date at 6 o’clock; ETA 2895/2)
• Grand Carrera 8RS (43mm case, GMT Function, “Grande Date” at 12 o’clock; ETA 2992A2/ Soprod GMT)
• Grand Carrera Chronograph Calibre 17 RS (43mm case, date at 6 o’clock, Chronograph; ETA 2894/2)

The purpose of the Grand Carrera was to introduce a premium line of TAG Heuer watches, one that grew the Carrera line into premium price points. From a first glance you can see that a special effort has gone into the watch- the dials of each model have applied hour-markers and TAG Heuer logo, Cotes de Geneve finishing on metal parts of the dial and a new bracelet design with improved fit and finish. Every model in the Grand Carrera line was COSC certified and featured the Rotating Disc system (hence the “RS”) developed by TAG Heuer, which distinguishes the watch from other ETA-powered watches.
We now know that there was much debate within TAG Heuer during its development on what the new watch should be called. The codename during the early days was “Vanquish”, a name that TAG Heuer would use on the limited edition version of the Carrera Calibre 360 in 2006.
Thankfully, enough people- including Jack Heuer- decided that the name didn’t suit the new mode, and so the name “Grand Carrera” was adopted. The rationale for this was that the watch was a premium version of the Carrera- TAG Heuer’s largest selling model. With the benefit of hindsight, I think its a shame that the Grand Carrera name was used, as the watch is special enough to warrant its own name rather than being an off-shoot of an existing model.