TAG Heuer Heads to Japan for a Sleek, Slick Take on Its Signature Chronograph

It has been five years since TAG Heuer last worked with Hiroshi Fujiwara, a renowned Japanese clothing designer and founder of the streetwear brand Fragment.

Each of Fujiwara’s first two collaborations paid homage to Jack Heuer’s most iconic designs with archival-inspired takes on the Carrera and Autavia. This time around, he applies his signature touch to the Swiss watchmaker’s hottest new design: the Glassbox Carrera Chronograph.

TAG Heuer

If black minimalist dials are your thing, then the Carrera Chronograph x Fragment Limited Edition is the most stunning watch TAG Heuer has produced in years.

It is objectively one of the most refined and dressy versions of the legendary racing chronograph ever produced. The glassbox crystal already gives a more polished finish than any traditional tool watch bezel, and the matte black opaline dial, combined with the chalk-white raised flange, is loosely reminiscent of a tuxedo dial.

TAG Heuer

Of course, the dressiest augmentations made to this limited-edition Carrera Chronograph are the removal of all numerals from the dial, except for the subtle silver tachymeter scale, and the drastically downsized hour markers.

Clean and balanced

Fujiwara’s approach to the Carrera dial this time is characteristically minimalist and monochromatic. Compared to the newest glassbox Carrera Chronographs, the snailing and numerals are removed from the sub-dials, with only 12 dashes on the small seconds dial, 30 dashes on the 30-minute totalizer and 24 dashes on the 12-hour totalizer.

TAG Heuer

The Carrera’s standard baton hour markers are gone, in favor of far more discrete printed white dots, which are square and come to a raised pyramidal point. The lume dots accompanying the hour markers, typically placed along with seconds track, are gone as well.

Some of the Carrera Chronograph’s more polished features remain intact. The rhodium-plated baton hour and minute hands, as well as the lacquered speedometer chronograph seconds hand, are unchanged.

Gray Super-LumiNova is used for the hour markers and the inserts in the hour and minute hands.

TAG Heuer

Fujiwara’s most intriguing detail is the placement, or rather placements, of his Fragment lightning bolt logo. Coincidentally, it was placed at 12 o’clock on his previous two TAG Heuer collaborations, which is where the date window was placed on the debut glassbox Carrera Chronograph reference.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the lightning bolts are now incorporated into the date disc, appearing as a single bolt for the first of the month and the Fragment double bolt logo as the 11th.

On the remaining days of each month, the Fragment collaboration is still represented by the brand’s name printed at six o’clock. The full Fragment logo, featuring double bolts inside a circle, is also printed on the sapphire crystal exhibition caseback.

TAG Heuer

Outside of the dial, this is a standard-issue glassbox Carrera Chronograph, equipped with 100m water resistance. It has a 39mm stainless steel case with a blend of brushed surfaces facing outward, and polished surfaces on the inner lugs and underside.

It runs on the TAG Heuer caliber TH20-00 automatic movement, equipped with a column wheel and vertical clutch, and boasting a 4Hz beat rate and 80-hour power reserve.

One last detail distinguishing the Fragment collaboration is a black PVD coating on the center links of the flat seven-link steel bracelet, secured by a folding butterfly clasp.

Availability and price

The distilled and dapper Carrera Chronograph x Fragment Limited Edition will be available for pre-order from TAG Heuer on December 3 at 6:00 AM for $9,050.

It is a limited edition production of 500 pieces, each individually numbered on the steel caseback ring. The watch only comes on the steel seven-link bracelet with a butterfly clasp.

TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Fragment Limited Edition

Specs

Case Size	39mm
Movement	TAG Heuer caliber TH20-00 automatic
Water Resistance	100m

• $9,050 at TAG Heuer

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