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It looks positively menacing with “black on black on black” aesthetic. Take one look at this watch and you understand why TAG has dubbed it the “Black Phantom”. Both the hour indices and handset have been applied with a faux-aged creamy yellow lume, and there are also splashes of red that can be found around the dial, adding to the race-derived ethos. The ceramic blue, tachymeter bezel offers both functionality and theatricality, and nicely complements the matt mid-blue tones of the dial. We’ve actually been fortunate enough to spend a fair bit of time with this particular TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16, and, if you’re after a steel sports watch with strong motorsport credentials, this Carrera is a great option. So, with all this in mind, we thought we’d take a look at three of our favourite TAG Heuer watches that are rocking a Calibre 16. It also has a bit of a reputation as being bulletproof, thanks to its strong and well-documented lineage to the Valjoux 7750 – one of the greatest chronograph movements of the 20 th century. It’s pretty easy to understand why TAG has used the Calibre 16 so religiously across its model line-ups for so long – this is a workhorse of a movement that benefits from a great many features, including self-winding, chronograph complication, date complication, 12-hour counter, 30-minute counter, running seconds, 42 hours of power reserve and an operating frequency of 28,800 (4Hz) vibrations per hour.
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In fact, the storied movement has been utilised by the Swiss watchmaker in a great many of its models since 2005, when it was first released in the then new and completely overhauled Carrera. TAG Heuer has been using its venerable chronograph-equipped Calibre 16 movement for more than two decades now. I/trending 19890 3 TAG Heuer Calibre 16s that can do it all James Robinson
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