One of the most interesting — and important — new watch releases I saw while in Geneva recently wasn’t shown at SIHH at all. Rather, it was presented by TAG Heuer. On the surface the watch is typically TAG Heuer, in look and indeed nomenclature — it’s called the Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph, and has that large, modular case construction that we’re so familiar with by now, along with carbon lugs and bezels that are straight-up cribbed from their recent Carbon capsule collection. The dial texture is a little different, with a hexagonal structure that looks cool and serves as some neat foreshadowing for the Nano part of the equation. There’s also a popping fluoro highlight that looks cool, and is particularly prominent on the tourbillon cage, which is really what this watch is all about. So, a quick bit of watch-engineering 101 — the balance spring, the beating heart of the regulating organ, sets the pace and is fundamental to effective timekeeping. It’s also delicate, sensitive to the effects of pesky outside influences like gravity, magnetism, temperature and the like. Over the centuries, numerous improvements to the spring have been conceived — including the tourbillon itself (which…

The post HANDS-ON: New balance – the TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph* appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

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