Swiss luxury watch TAG Heuer celebrated the 60th anniversary of its iconic Carrera style with the premiere of a short film The Chase for the Carrera starring Ryan Gosling. Frederic Arnoult, TAG Heuer CEO, said TAG Heuer has always had a close connection to Hollywood, with its timepieces worn on the wrists of silver screen legends across the decades. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the Carrera’s 60 years than with this world-first: a mini Hollywood blockbuster and of course, we needed a race.”
The Chase for the Carrera has been produced by David Leitch, who is a former stuntman and known for movies like John Wick and Dead Pool 2. It’s directed by Nash Edgerton. Gosling is pitted against the movie’s prop master, Tammy (played by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer) as she tries to retrieve his prized Carrera from his wrist. The Chase for the Carrera is a very petite action thriller, part self-knowing slapstick farce, all artfully produced brand collateral for the storied Carrera. The film takes viewers on a ride for a movie within a movie…within a movie.
This TAG Heuer film isn’t a first for Gosling. He sported a TAG Heuer Carrera Three Hands in 2022’s Netflix spy thriller The Grey Man. Moreover, the Notebook actor will be seen wearing the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph in The Fall Guy.
Gosling says this campaign is wildly different from not only everything they have done together, but anything they’ve ever done before. “It was surprising to see a luxury brand known for such serious and artful campaigns, suddenly embrace and showcase such a strong sense of humor.”
The Carrera debuted in 1963. According to a report, the watch carries the name of the legendary Carrera Pan americana road race, a treacherous 3,000km 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 Rodriquez who regaled him with tales of the route and its victors.
As such, all Carrera models, since the beginning have sported the bold design with an emphasis on legibility, which is crucial in racing and just about everywhere else. Furthermore, the anniversary also launched a new timepiece to honor Carrera’s history
