There really is no bad looking vintage Carrera.
The Carrera was one of Jack Heuer’s most passionate projects, and his design ethos for this watch can be summed up in one word: legibility. Jack wanted a watch that was stylish and functional, a watch that gives you everything you need and nothing you don’t.
For a watch designed in the late 1960s, the Carrera remains a stunner, proving the brilliance of Jack’s design philosophy. A clean dial never goes out of style, and it makes the Carrera an easy watch to dress up or down. At 35mm, the case wears extremely well on the modern wrist, its long beveled lugs making it feel a bit beefier while still slipping easily under a cuff.
Carreras were produced in a variety of styles with a range of dials configurations, including relatively standard black and silver dials and the rarer, more sought after panda dials. Still rare, but slightly more available and affordable than the coveted panda dials, are the black and silver dials with added tachymeter, decimal or pulsometer chapter rings in red, blue, white and black. These rings add a wonderful touch of color to an otherwise simplistic dial, making them a particularly attractive option for the enterprising collector.
Manufactured circa 1970, this particular Carrera, a Reference 2447T, is powered by the legendary manually-wound Valjoux 72 chronograph movement, with characteristic triple subsidiary register layout - the same as the Rolex Daytonas of the same era. With a strong case, and nearly flawless dial with silver toned tachymetre ring with red printing, this is a beautiful piece and a rare find.
We have been so blown away by the demand from our clients for these watches that we’re officially declaring 2015 the Year of the Carrera. With values for early manual-winding Heuer chronographs on the rise, you won't want to miss out on snatching up one of these beauties before they go stratospheric like too many other vintage pieces of this caliber.
For an in depth look at early Heuer Carreras, check out this great piece by our friend Eric Wind over at Hodinkee, .
