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TAG Heuer has released a new look Carrera that is very different to the standard racing-inspired models. The Carrera Astronomer is designed to cast your eyes to the heavens with its new moonphase complication, and we’ve gone hands-on for a review.

For TAG Heuer’s first outing at Geneva Watch Days, it has released some very cool pieces, one of which (well, three really) is the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer. A new take on the traditional moonphase complication, TAG Heuer has set out to embark on a new phase for the famous Carrera line. It has introduced three different variations of the Carrera Astronomer – A 500-piece limited edition with grey dial accents and leather strap, a seconds 500-piece limited edition two-tone steel and 18k rose gold plated model, and this, which I’m reviewing today – the full stainless steel model as part of the core collection.

But why an astronomical complication in the Carrera? So, in 1962, a significant moment in both watchmaking and space history occurred when astronaut John Glenn wore a specifically modified Heuer 2915A stopwatch aboard NASA’s Friendship 7 spacecraft. On February 20 of that year, Glenn relied on this precision instrument as he circled Earth three times, and linked TAG Heuer with space flight. So it is this piece of history that TAG Heuer draws on for the new Carrera Astronomer.

Initial Thoughts

So this is a bit of a different watch for TAG Heuer. While it still maintains the essence of the Carrera, it’s TAG Heuer going in a new direction and elevating the collection above a typical sports watch. When I wore this watch for the first time, it felt less like your typical Carrera and more like something you would see from another brand that has elevated sports pieces. The main reason for this, I feel, is the new beads of rice bracelet, which gives the Carrera Astronomer a more dressy feel. Added to this is the Sunburst dial in silver with the unique moon phase complication on it.

It is one of those watches that you feel you could wear out to a nice dinner or to an evening party or something of that nature, with a nice jacket and would still look completely in place. Most other Carreras fit squarely into the sports watch genre, whereas this straddles the fence between sports and dress. They have sized the watch pretty well, giving it the 39 mm Carrera case, so for most wrists it’ll wear quite nicely. With this style of watch, I don’t think it needed to be any bigger because of the fact that there is a more dressy style of sports watch – you want to be able to easily wear it with any kind of outfit. Overall, it looks like it’s a nice piece to wear, and on first wear, it feels very comfortable. So let’s see how it was over the next two weeks!

The Design

Normally, I wouldn’t talk too much about the design of Carrera. Primarily because, well, it has been spoken about ad nauseam for many, many years. By now, we all know the story about Jack Heuer coming up with the Carrera – being a racing enthusiast and associating it with the Carrera Pan Americana race. But this watch is a little bit different. It has that familiar Carrera shape with the case, the lugs, and the overall look, but this is not a chronograph. It is something very new for TAG Heuer.

Really, what we need to talk about here is the dial and the moonphase that TAG Heuer has put on this watch. Now, moon phases are not new. Many watch brands have been doing them for many, many years. However, what TAG Heuer has done is brought forward a design that is a very unique style of moon phase – one that showcases the different faces of the moon, but all at once, with a small arrow indication that tells you whereabouts the moon is in its cycle.

As you can see in the image above, you have the small disk that sits at the bottom of the asymmetric dial, and the double arrow tells you exactly what phase you’re in at the correct time of the month. The top of the arrow, which is pointing to the actual picture of the moon phase, corresponds with the bottom sector of the dial, which tells you exactly what phase of the moon you’re in. As an example, in the image below, you can see the arrow pointing to just past the 3rd quarter at the bottom pointer, and the top pointer shows the graphical representation of this. TAG Heuer has made this a very foolproof and easy-to-read moon phase indicator.

The small moon indications are actually done in Super-LumiNova, which creates a cool effect at night. Now this is more for aesthetics than anything else, as you can’t actually read the arrow at night, but looking at your glowing moons on your TAG Heuer Astronomer, it’s kind of a neat party trick. In addition, the hour and minute hands are filled with Super-LumiNova, but on this model, the numerals are not, so nighttime visibility is limited from a practical sense. This is rectified, however, in the limited edition steel model with Super-LumiNova-filled numerals.

The whole moon phase disc is offset on the dial, which gives the Carrera astronomer a nice asymmetrical look, which I kind of like in more dressier watches. Surrounding the moon phase is a satin brushed silver dial that radiates out in slightly curved striations, again, giving the dial a bit of a different type of effect. Tag Heuer has applied silver indices to the dial, and the one thing I noticed is that these are not filled with Super-LumiNova, so your nighttime visibility of this watch is pretty limited. I would have loved a date indication within the dial somewhere, but not to throw off the balance; however, this would have required a movement redesign to add this in.

Around the outer part of the dial, you have a recessed black second track and then outside of that a silver rehaut with five-minute markers. To be honest, I am not 100% sure of the purpose of this, other than it gives the dial a nice design aesthetic and balances out between the silver and black sectors to break it up. Even though there’s probably not a functional purpose to it, the whole dial works because to the eye, you see the silver case, bezel and rehaut, then the black outer track, back to the silver dial and then the black, moonphase indicator. All this helps contrast the silver with the overall steel that the rest of the watch is made from. If this were all steel and silver, I’m not so sure the monochromatic effect that would have created would work all that well.

Now, I couldn’t talk about the design of this watch without mentioning or going into a little bit of detail on the new Beads of Rice bracelet that TAG Heuer now has as an option on the 39 mm Carrera collection. It was released at Watches & Wonders earlier in the year. This kind of signals to me that they are starting to head in a new direction. Talking to Van Mulryan, managing director for TAG Heuer Australia, she tells me that we’ll be seeing TAG Heuer entering a bit of a new phase over the next few years. This is something we have seen TAG Heuer building up to over the last couple of years, ever since they released their new look Glassbox Carrera in 2023. And this is something that their head of movements, award-winning movement designer Carole Forestier-Kasapi, has alluded to in the past about getting TAG Heuer back to being a great company that makes watches that blend the avant-garde, which is part of their namesake, with the classic and more traditional designs of Heuer. 

That aside, the new Beads of Rice bracelet is actually a good addition to the Carrera lineup as it does elevate the watch quite substantially compared to their current range of steel bracelets or leather straps. And if TAG Heuer is going to be going into a direction where they create more watches like the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer, then I feel this is a bracelet that will be needed. When I wrote about the Beads of Rice bracelet back in April, it was less a “Beads of Rice” bracelet in a traditional sense, but more modern interpretation, and I still stand by this comment. It doesn’t feel like it has those rice beads with the rounded inner links. Rather, it has been flattened out and as a result feels less vintage and a little bit more contemporary. I will say this, however, I feel TAG Heuer could have put some sort of micro-adjustment on these new bracelets, given that it has been developed from scratch. I’m always calling out for micro adjustments on bracelets with the pushbutton butterfly claps, and some brands do do it, where most don’t. I realise that there is an extra cost to this, but these days I think it’s probably worth the brand’s while to do it.

Outside of these rather large changes to the Carrera, the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer retains the overall feeling and DNA of the Carrera. One of the unique aspects I will point out in the design is the motif on the back of the watch. This piece doesn’t have a see-through case back but rather a nice picture of a telescope within an observatory peering out at the moon. The way the picture has been designed, specifically the inside of a domed observatory, reveals the inspiration TAG Heuer drew from in designing the moon phase and dial. It’s a nice design touch for this watch.

How It Wears

I’ve said it on many occasions, Carreras do wear quite nicely. They are actually a fairly comfortable watch to wear day in and day out, which is why I think they are such a popular choice amongst people who are after a nice mid-range sports watch. I have been wearing this piece for the better part of the week on and off to get a sense of it versus other pieces I have at the moment. My only little quibble with this watch, as I’ve touched on already, like most watches that have a butterfly clasp or integrated style bracelet, is the lack of a micro-adjustment. Most days it has been fine because the temperature hasn’t fluctuated a lot, but currently, the way it is sized, come summer, I will probably need to add a link back into this. Normally, this is not an issue, but the Beads of Rice bracelet has a pin sleeve system, which means you probably will need to take it to a jeweller to be adjusted. If you don’t have wrists that fluctuate, then this is not going to be an issue for you whatsoever; however, if your wrists are like mine, that is something you will need to consider. But in saying that, I have to wonder what this watch would look like on a nice black leather strap. It would be an option, I feel for those who want to give the Carrera more of that sporty look, and would also solve the wrist size issue for people like me.

That small issue aside, the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer is a nice watch to wear daily, sized at 39mm x 45.2mm lug-to-lug x 12.16mm thick. As I said previously, it bridges the gap between a sports watch and a dress watch, thanks to the bracelet and the dial design. Given the unique dial design, it is not a piece you would have seen a lot in the past on people’s wrists. To me, this is just one aspect of where I feel the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer will stand out in the Carrera collection overall.

It feels to me like a very versatile watch, and it’s a watch that you cannot really pigeonhole into one area or another. The Beads of Rice bracelet is actually very comfortable on the wrist as it is nice and smooth on the inside, and thanks to the smaller links, contours and conforms to your wrist pretty easily.

And the bracelet with his design has no taper at all, but with a watch like this, I don’t think it needs it all that much because it is comfortable, but also as the style of the bracelet doesn’t lend itself to needing to actually have a taper on the wrist. It’s not a large watch, nor is it a large bracelet, and I feel it kind of works in this sense.

The Movement

Inside the TAG Heuer Carrera Astonomer beats the Calibre 7. It isn’t a new movement as TAG Heuer has used this in previous time and date models, as well as GMT models in the past. But what it does allow is ease of setting both the time and the moon phase via the crown. You pull the crown out to the first position and rotate anticlockwise. This sets the indicator arrow one day on the moon phase at a time. Pull it out to the second position, and you set the time as you would normally. It’s almost like a foolproof moonphase complication without the need for correctors on the side like many have.

When running and the moon phase is set to your local time, each day at 1:00 AM, the lunar disc advances in perfect rhythm with real-world moon movement. According to TAG Heuer, this synchronisation elevates accuracy and strengthens the sense of connection between the wearer and the moonphase cycle. Aside from the new moonphase display, the TAG Heuer Calibre 7 has a 50-hour power reserve with a 4Hz / 28,800VpH beat rate.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this is a good release from TAG Heuer. As they have chosen to release this just in time for Geneva Watch Days, this being the first year of the brand participating in it, it kind of fits the overall theme of the fair – that being for more independent watchmaking, which generally results in slightly more avant-garde styles and designs. Yes, TAG Heuer is not an independent watch maker, but what I’m alluding to is the style and type of watch the Carrera Astronomer is, less a classic Carrera as we know it today, and more a little left of field for the brand. I mentioned previously, this feels like the next evolution of the TAG Heuer Carrera.

To me, the watch doesn’t actually feel like a Carrera when on the wrist, when you catch it out of the corner of your eye, glancing at it. Yes, it does say Carrera and has the TAG Heuer logo on the dial that you cannot miss, but the overall aesthetic of the watch and the way it feels on the wrist just feels a little more nuanced and classy versus your traditional Carrera sports watch. And this watch will probably be a good conversation starter. From what I understand, this is a bit of a first for TAG Heuer in terms of the design of the watch and the very prominent moon phase indicator dial that stands out. Added to this, the Beads of Rice bracelet pairs perfectly with the watch and complements the look and feel of it. If you are after a moe dressier sports watch, with the added benefit of having something more unique on the dial, then the TAG Heuer Carrera Astronomer is worth considering.

Reference: WBX2110.BA0044 (Full Steel)

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 39mm x 45.2mm lug-to-lug x 12.16mm thick
• Case Material: Brushed and polished stainless steel
• Dial: Silver sunray brushed dial with black & silver flanges and a 60 second / minute scale. Black central rotating disc indicating moonphases and black fine-grained outer counter, with moonphase markings
• Crystal: Bevelled, domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment
• Movement: Calibre 7
• Power Reserve: 50hrs
• Water Resistance: 100m (10bar)
• Strap: Black/blue perforated leather strap with butterfly/folding clasp.

Australian RRP: A$7,050. Additionally, the limited edition steel on leather: A$6,750 and two-tone steel & rose gold: A$10,750

Availability: Available now through TAG Heuer boutiques, retailers and online at TAGHeuer.com

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