Mr. Jack Heuer’s Perception on Carrera
The interview with Mr. Jack Heuer was done on one afternoon of May. He came to Beijing mainly for the new products presentation of TAG Heuer, and he visited the Summer Palace designedly. In the interview, I noticed that he wore a watch of Grand Carrera 17, and he said that he liked this kind of watch very much.
Q: Originally, why did you create the watch brand with the subject of Carrera?
A: Carrera is the name of a long cross-country race in Mexico, and I like it very much. Because it sounds so grand and magnificent, and it is meaningful as well. It represents land, vehicle and broad vision, and it sounds quite suitable for the name of a watch series. Now Carrera is the working effort of Heuer team, and I am just the consultant. I suggest keeping the special style which Carrera owns, including its perfect design and the clear and concise styling.
Q: Is there any relationship between TAG Heuer Carrera and Porsche Carrera?
A: Yes, there is. Carrera race was quite rough and dangerous, and there were a lot of accidents with high injuries and deaths. Therefore, since its last holding in 1956, it has not been held any more. A short while after that, Porsche developed a new sports car and named it as Carrera in memorizing this race. Meanwhile, we also took it as the name of our watch.
Q: Grand Carrera has used many innovative technologies, such as rotary chassis. Would you please tell us about the design idea and technology specialty in detail?
A: There are three points. First, it has a rotary system which can not only be used as second hand and to keep time, but can also show dual time. Displaying so many functions just in one way is its most characteristic. Second, it has a special watch-button with double protections. Third, although it owns so many complex functions, it can still keep concise, clear and elegant.
Q: The making of watch movement for TAG Heuer has been quite ripe, why did you still present a new watch with Zenith watch movement on Basel World?
A: That is a sharp question. Firstly, Zenith is the sister brand of LVMH, but not competitor. Secondly, the amplitude of Zenith watch movement is 36,000 times per hour, which means one time per 1/10second. What we created is the movement with 360,000 times, which means one time per 1/100second. Although the rotary speed of our watch movement is as ten times as Zenith, which can keep a record of 1/10 second, it cannot show it clearly. But this watch we designed just needs to show the 1/10second. Therefore, we need a watch movement of 36,000 times to show the 1/10 second we want. Zenith can do that and we are in the same group, why do we need to produce a same watch movement?
Q: Are there any relationships between TAG Heuer and Olympics and Sports?
A: From 1920 to 1932, TAG Heuer was appointed as timing equipment for Olympic Games for 4 years in succession. Because Swiss watch was in depression in 1970’s and the basic timing equipments for Olympic Games needed at least more than 100 watchmakers to accomplish, which was a great demand and none brand could do that successfully. Therefore, for the Mosco Olympic Games in 1980, it was done by several brands in Switzerland, including Omega, Longines etc, and TAG Heuer was one of them. Later, we considered that TAG Heuer was famous for its accurate timing, while Olympic Games timing did not require very fast speed, so we gradually withdrew from Olympic Games and went into races such as skiing, fast racing, and challenge ourselves in limitation, speed and resistance.
