Every week, we uncover a new object of desire from the vast and magical world of brands. This week, we uncover the impossibly dazzling TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma.
Watches are fun to dissect largely because there are standard details to analyse. Some say it’s boring, but I beg to differ — it is a very therapeutic way to observe an object. Systematically ticking through the boxes one by one reveals all the tweaks and improvements a watch brand makes in response to a deeper understanding of how this “template” of innovation can be pushed with time.
In a way, breaking the parts of a watch down to the layman also helps them understand why watches fetch the prices they do; watchmaking dangles precariously between both math and art, so some patience is needed to appreciate the work that goes into powering up something so small. But for some watches, like the TAG Heuer’s Carrera Plasma, one needs to do a lot more than just appreciate.
Presented as an innovation for Watches and Wonders, this timepiece brings on board the field of science, literally anchoring the watch in lab-grown diamonds. This not only chronicles a defining step for the luxury watch-maker but a material advancement for the watch world itself.
With only less than a dozen pieces being made, it won’t be hard to guess how its price point is going to fare. The TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma essentially is a very expensive and beautiful-looking experiment involving the most affordable tourbillon chronograph on the market. Both the hairspring and the tourbillon cage are carbon composite; a light but strong material that reduces the energy needed to move the tourbillon that solves one of the biggest inherent problems of this kind of watch.
The watch also had the 44mm case in black sandblasted anodised aluminium set with lab-grown diamonds in a way that natural diamonds could never be. This is because the shape of naturally occurring diamonds cannot be controlled but the engineers behind the Carrera Plasma, however, are able to embed their artificial diamonds perfectly into the bevels of the case. So while lab-grown diamonds are not new, thanks to TAG Heuer, this is the first time they have been used in watches like this.
Then we also have the polycrystalline diamond dial, blasted with finely ground diamond “powder” – a new technique that expresses a new kind of diamond in an unprecedented way. And then a single, 2.5-carat piece of diamond made by Capsoul, a start-up that specialises in synthetic diamond — grown into the shape of a crown.
The Carrera Plasma is powered by TAG Heuer’s in-house Heuer 02 automatic chronograph, a Swiss-made movement with a 65-hour power reserve in a unique version specially developed for the Carrera Plasma. Extensively hand-finished, it features the oscillating weight in the form of the TAG Heuer shield.
If it doesn’t inspire admiration and desire, it will probably be a while before more innovative timepieces are put forth, pushing the material front. For all you know, this may become something the TAG Heuer can lead the watch industry with in the future.
Nevertheless, it’s an exciting first that just reminds us of how much more the watch world is going to grow, with the advent of more advanced technology.
Once you’re done with this story, click here to catch up with our September 2022 issue.
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