3-Watch Thursday #62
First Gen Glassbox Carreras, Ed White's Watches and Lord Sugar
Morning team
Happy Thursday. Back in your inbox for another round of 3 watch related things this week. I’ll keep the intro brief. It’s been a pretty big week re: Taylor Swift at the Grammy’s and the return of the Piaget Polo (in pretty much vibes only).
None of that will be mentioned further here, we’ll dive into some brilliant articles from this week.
Retrospective — The “First Generation” Glassbox Carrera Chronographs (2015 to 2023)
Heuer expert Jeff Stein, is probably most well known for his knowledge when it comes to vintage Heuer, so this article came as a bit of a surprise, but then again it is kind of about vintage Heuer.
Tag Heuer are having a bit of a moment at the moment. You’re more than likely aware of the present praises for the Glassbox Carrera.
But did you know there are two pretty distinct ‘generations‘ of the vintage inspired Glassbox Carreras?
Jeff sees a pretty clear line between those produced 2015-2023 and those produced since March 2023.
The first 10 editions are all limited, all 39mm and all have a distinct bezel with which the crystal attaches.
This is pretty faithful of the originals.
Enter the second generation of Glassbox Carrera.
No distinct bezel. Nearly all non-limited. Some 39mm some 42mm.
It’s great to see this level of breakdown highlighting Tag Heuer’s development and innovation pathway for it’s watches.
Jeff puts it this way:
Perhaps we should think of the first generation Glassbox Carreras as an intermittent “research and development” project, during which TAG Heuer considered exactly what this collection of watches should be.
Regardless as to what actually happened, it’s definitely worth reading his whole article here.
Why Ed White Wore Two Speedmasters During His Spacewalk
The short answer is…the Gemini IV mission had two control centres.
Mission control in Texas.
Launch control in Florida.
Pretty simple.
But Robert-Jan Boer over at Fratello takes a dive into the serial numbers and what happened to each watch here.
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A Uniquely British Segment
This week, I started watching the 2024 Apprentice on BBC 1 and was presented with the conundrum of what watches Lord Sugar wears on the programme.
I think most will be familiar with the white dial Daytona that features in the main intro videos.
But then I spotted a flash of gold and realised he was wearing a green dial yellow gold Daytona (John Mayer).
By the end of the programme, he was wearing something distinctively not Rolex. I just couldn’t get a good look as to what it was.
I was in deep, intrigued as to the watches he wears in the programme.
A quick google later and I discover the missing watch to be a Breitling Premier B01.
It appears I’m not the only person to have wondered this:
Ok so now you know more about Lord Suger’s watches, but surely you want to know even more!
No worries, The Sun has you covered!
In some of the best journalism I have ever read to date /s, The Sun took some screenshots to work out how long the boardroom scene takes to film at the end of each episode.
Well it turns out nearly 5 and a half hours!
The more you know.
Finally, before you close this email, a quick recommendation for the
with the auction previews. Always with lots across the spectrum, George shares what he’s got his eye on each week!That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed and see you again next Thursday.
Owen
Thanks for the recommendation 🙏🏻🙏🏻