In-Depth: The TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 By Fragment Design Hiroshi Fujiwara

By Jeff Stein

In November 2018, TAG Heuer launched a limited edition Carrera by Fragment Design and Hiroshi Fujiwara. This new Carrera was inspired by a timepiece offered by Heuer in the mid-1960s, the Carrera Reference 2447 NT. We asked Jeff Stein, the creator and operator of the vintage Heuer site OnTheDash, to offer his perspective on this newest Carrera. In addition, check Jeff’s OnTheDash posting for detailed information about the Fragment Design Carrera, including pricing and availability.


Re-editions can be a touchy subject for today’s watch brands. When the brands offer literal reproductions of their historic models, they may be chastised for their lack of creativity. When a brand strays too far, offering a new model that is only minimally connected to its vintage predecessor, it may be criticized for misusing the brand’s heritage. And so we rarely see a brand labeling a new watch as a “re-edition” or a “re-issue,” but instead we read of homages and heritages, inspirations and interpretations, with the mandatory references to the brand’s DNA, all along the way. Despite these risks, re-editions of vintage watches have had a strong run over the last few years, with some of the new models enjoying far greater success than their predecessors.

With the new Carrera by Fragment Design, TAG Heuer begins with a Carrera from its Museum, and with some design tweaks from an unlikely source and the use of its Heuer 02 in-house movement, has created a new watch that goes far beyond the usual type of re-issue. To put this newest Carrera into its proper perspective, we will consider it in the context of three notable predecessors – the original Carrera from 1963, TAG Heuer’s first re-issue of the Carrera from 1996, and the Hodinkee Limited Edition Skipper from 2017.

A review of these four watches will offer insights into why we collect vintage watches and why – on occasion – vintage watch enthusiasts may even collect these new models.

Origin – The First Carrera


A 1943 Heuer brochure depicting the ref. 2447 that was the precursor to the Heuer Carrera.

While the usual narrative presents the Carrera as having been created by Jack Heuer in 1963, we go back to Heuer’s 1943 brochure to understand the origins of the Carrera. With a new 38 millimeter waterproof case …read more      

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