How do you celebrate the diamond anniversary of a watch synonymous with high-octane motorsport races, fast cars and drivers who remain impossibly calm while speeding along at 150+ mph? You make a movie. With a wild car chase. And Ryan Gosling.
Recently, TAG Heuer partied down in London for the 60th anniversary of its iconic Carrera style and the premiere of a short film starring Gosling, the Swiss brand’s ambassador and rollerblading Ken-to-be. Titled The Chase for the Carrera, produced by David Leitch (the man behind John Wick, Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train and a former stuntman) and directed by Nash Edgerton, the five-minute film pits Gosling against the movie’s prop master, Tammy (played by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer) as she attempts to retrieve his prized Carrera from his wrist. Part very petite action thriller, part self-knowing slapstick farce, all artfully produced brand collateral for the storied Carrera, the film takes you on a ride for a movie within a movie…within a movie.
“TAG Heuer has always had a close connection to Hollywood, with our timepieces worn on the wrists of silver screen legends across the decades,” TAG Heuer CEO Frédéric Arnault said, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate [the Carrera’s] 60 years that than with this world-first: a mini Hollywood blockbuster… and, of course we needed a race.”
Racing is in the Carrera’s DNA. Debuting in 1963, the watch carries the name of the legendary Carrera Panamericana road race—a treacherous 3,000 km contest from the northern Mexican border to the south and a true test of drivers’ and cars’ abilities. Jack Heuer, the great-grandson of the brand’s founder, learned of the dangerous and short-lived race when he met the parents of two Mexican brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodríquez who regaled him with tales of the route and its victors. All models since the beginning have sported the bold design with an emphasis on legibility—crucial in racing and just about everywhere else.
For all the racing and chasing that are involved in the film, maybe it’s more appropriate to categorise the brand’s action-packed mise-en-abyme as Gosling’s next buddy comedy. Spoiler alert: his TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph doesn’t leave his wrist despite Bayer’s best efforts to catch him (while also wearing a pink-dialed TAG Heuer Carrera) as he makes his getaway in, of course, a vintage Porsche Carrera. In fact, the watch plays a starring role with its own ticking close-ups. It’s one of several “glassbox” models unveiled at January’s Watches & Wonders show in Geneva, with a navy blue dial set in a 39mm steel case, matching calfskin strap, and domed sapphire crystal—a reliable, much-beloved scene companion giving Russell Crowe in The Nice Guys a run for his money.
The project is a departure for TAG Heuer, but such is the fruit that comes from true collaboration. Filmed in Australia during the production of Gosling and Leitch’s upcoming flick, The Fall Guy, it speaks to the action-comedy spirit they were in. “This campaign is wildly different from not only everything we’ve done together, but I think, anything they’ve ever done before,” said Gosling in an interview right before the premiere, “It was surprising to see a luxury brand known for such serious and artful campaigns, suddenly embrace and showcase such a strong sense of humour.”
Over the course of two days, the team managed to film scenes full of improvisation and Easter eggs that nod to the Carrera’s illustrious past. The first scene opens with a woman wearing distinctive white sunglasses of the legendary Jacqueline Evans de López, the British-born Mexican TV and film actress who was the first woman to compete in the infamous Panamericana race in her own Porsche. They even showed a blooper reel at the premiere.
Along with the film, it wouldn’t be a watch anniversary without a new timepiece to honor the Carrera’s history while looking ahead; something like the birthday candle on the cake for good luck. That would be the limited edition TAG Heuer Chronograph 60th Anniversary, part of the “glassbox” family that’s running on the Calibre HEUER Automatic 02 Movement, but sporting a silver sunray brushed dial and three contrasting black counters. Panda mode. Six hundred of these are being released, each engraved with its individual number “XXX/600” on the case back along with a notation of its 100-meter water resistance.
So the Carrera finally gets a star vehicle at 60 years old alongside Ryan Gosling, keeps getting better with highly desired, thoughtfully designed models whether it’s on the track or off, and had a blowout birthday bash with a slew of other TAG Heuer ambassadors like Patrick Dempsey and Jacob Elordi (who temporarily traded in his Monaco for a Carrera Chronograph for the occasion) in attendance. Talk about thriving in your golden years.
Previously published on Robb Report.
