It’s been a busy time for TAG Heuer in the last few years – leadership shakeups, new major partnerships, and massive product line overhauls have substantially changed the face of the brand’s lineup in recent memory, but for the most part these changes have been centralized to certain aspects of the catalogue. We’ve seen a retro-futurist reimagining of its core collection (the Carrera “Glassbox”), a re-examining of what the brand’s heritage offerings can potentially be (the Formula 1 Kith collection), and a newly revitalized dive watch collection in the revamped Aquaracer. Among this new, more energetic TAG Heuer lineup, however, the brand’s aggressive, avant-garde side has been kept out of the spotlight except for at the extreme top end of the product range. For its latest release, TAG Heuer overhauls the Carrera’s futuristic side with a muscular, racy, but impressively well-balanced series of offerings. The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport and the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport take the modern Carrera silhouette in a complex, dynamic new direction, with strikingly ornate new skeleton dial layouts and a pair of high-performance in-house movements.
Both the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport and the Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport begin with bold, aggressive cases measuring 44mm wide and 15.1mm thick. Available in either Grade 2 titanium (with or without black DLC coating) or 18K 5N rose gold with bezels in matte-black ceramic, forged carbon (for the titanium tourbillon model), or rose gold (for the rose gold tourbillon model), these cases are far from shrinking violets on the wrist, but several clever design choices help to keep these pieces more balanced on the wrist than figures might suggest. The most important (and visually striking) factor here is the case side design. Rather than the simple flat flanks of the traditional Carrera, TAG Heuer instead opts for recessed central segments on each case side, further accented by raised ribs running partway down the length of these recessed sections.
For the linear-brushed and matte-blasted Grade 2 titanium variants, TAG Heuer adds even more visual drama (and further breaks up the case silhouette on the wrist) with the addition of a heavily grained matte black finish for these recessed sections. It’s a touch that intelligently reinforces the Carrera’s automotive associations on the wrist, without directly referencing any individual visual cue. In addition, the simple lightweight nature of titanium on the wrist, along with its darker hue, help to make the titanium and DLC models feel a bit less prominent than they would in normal stainless steel. The engraved tachymeter bezels on these models are a modern Carrera staple, as are the broad, angular inwardly beveled lugs, especially on gold-cased variants where the mix of brushed and polished planes gives a visual impression closer to the classic Carrera silhouette. Regardless of case material or complications, each model in the line is topped with a sapphire display caseback, and rated for a sporting 100 meters of water resistance.
While the case updates to the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport and Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport are relatively subdued, the new dials for these models establish an aggressive, futuristic new personality for the line. Skeleton dial designs, especially skeleton chronographs, have a tendency to become chaotic and illegible in many cases, but TAG Heuer mostly sidesteps these potential pitfalls. There’s no denying that these designs are busy, especially the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport, but the multi-layered complexity is respectably well balanced and generally works to emphasize the main visual theme. Each model in the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport family shares the same overall dial layout, with familiar lined baton hands and diminutive, faceted applied indices paired to a centrally radiating, 12-spoke skeleton bridge layout. TAG Heuer adds a sense of depth and texture beyond the usual skeleton bridge arrangement here, thanks to a dual-level engraved finish that features strong vertical brushing on the raised surfaces contrasted by asphalt-like heavy-grained matte black in the recesses. From this skeleton framework, the overall movement layout below is handsomely symmetrical, with the mainspring barrel dominating the 12 o’clock side, while the gear train shines through at 6 o’clock and the exposed Hublot-style stencil date wheel adds a punch of contrasting color. The brand also thoughtfully keeps all scales, markers, and complications firmly grounded in solid dial components. In practice, this ensures that every single hand and display is presented against a solid, easy-to-read backdrop, with the only exception being the main central hour hand. It’s an impressively legible chronograph design, despite the vivid colors and ornate skeletonization.
Available in four different colorways, the real standouts of the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport collection on the wrist are the orange-accented titanium model and the gold-cased variant. For the orange version, its real strength lies in illuminating the line’s design inspiration. The Carrera has always been an automotive-inflected watch from the very start, but for this new model, the brand (intentionally or not) evokes the look of a modern multi-spoke racing wheel. Thanks to the deep reddish-orange accents for the needle-style central chronograph seconds hand, the skeleton chronograph hands at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock, the narrow outer seconds chapter ring, and most importantly the date wheel, the dial at a glance looks like a disc brake inside a lightweight wheel, glowing hot under heavy braking. It’s a deft, abstract touch, and one that still gives this model a suitably sporty and modern feel even when it fades into the visual background. On the other hand, the gold model’s two-tone effect simply offers the best canvas to show off the Extreme Sport’s finishing, from polished edges to split azurage rings, black-coated brushing, and textured matte areas.
Surprisingly, then, the dial of the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport is actually the subtler and more restrained of the collection. Most of the elements are carried over from its less complicated siblings, but TAG Heuer hides most of the skeleton movement behind a recessed, textured charcoal gray dial surface that echoes the checkered-flag brushing pattern used on the ultra-high-end Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph. The only cutouts, then, are for the 12 o’clock mainspring barrel and the counterbalancing tourbillon escapement at 6 o’clock. Of course, the escapement is the real visual centerpiece of this watch on the wrist, and the brand keeps things suitably sporting and modern here with a simple, light three-spoke tourbillon cage finished in radial brushing. Given the more focused, even purposeful feel of the tourbillon-equipped models, the real winner on the wrist here is the (comparatively) simple titanium version. The stark, monochrome look and surrounding forged carbon bezel help this version to feel razor-sharp, ultra-modern, and far more wearable than its louder gold stablemate.
To power the Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport and the Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport, TAG Heuer turns to the in-house Calibre TH20-00 and Calibre TH20-09 movements, respectively. The TH20-00 has become the powerplant of choice for the brand’s more premium automatic chronograph offerings since 2023, and this still-new movement offers some genuinely world-class specs. The generous 80-hour power reserve, 28,800 bph beat rate, and column wheel and vertical clutch chronograph actuation system combine to make this a worthy contender in its market segment. Compared to the wild, layered visuals of the skeletonized dial side, the caseback side of the movement is relatively demure. Nearly full bridges covered in finely executed Côtes de Genève cover most of the visual real estate here, with only a dial-matching exposed column wheel, some minor gear train elements, and the exposed balance wheel to break up the effect. TAG Heuer tops this movement with its skeletonized shield-motif rotor, featuring a layered, brushed and matte blasted finish.
The tourbillon-equipped Calibre TH20-09 automatic chronograph movement inside the Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport is nigh-on identical to its TH20-00 stablemate, with a handful of nominal differences. Most notable among these (except for the tourbillon itself, of course) is the reduction in overall power reserve from 80 hours to 65 hours, stemming directly from the added weight and torque requirements of that exotic escapement. On the finishing front, the TH20-09 is even more subdued than its cousin, with the same nearly full bridges with Côtes de Genève, the same style of rotor, and a layout that renders the tourbillon completely invisible from the caseback side. Given the spectacle inherent in a tourbillon-equipped chronograph, some buyers may prefer a more dramatic movement presentation here.
TAG Heuer completes the package for both collections with a flush-mounted, NACA duct-inspired rubber deployant strap. For the bare titanium Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport models, the brand offers the most vivid iterations, with straps in dial-matching royal blue and red-orange with center links in sharply brushed and matte blasted titanium. For the rest of the collection, the brand takes a more restrained approach, with black rubber and black DLC-coated center links. In any guise, it’s a flowing, handsomely sculpted design with a soft, flexible feel out of the box, although the center links do lend these watches a slightly longer stance on the wrist.
Amid massive updates to the Carrera and the TAG Heuer brand at large in recent years, the wilder, more modernist side of the company lineup has been relatively quiet. With the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport and Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport, the bolder, more futuristic side of TAG Heuer comes roaring back in detailed, dynamic, and impressively thoughtful new iterations. Both collections are available now through authorized dealers. MSRP for the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport ranges from 8,000 CHF to 12,000 CHF, while pricing for the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport extends from 25,500 CHF to 32,000 CHF as of press time. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
