The Swiss luxury watch brand has announced a world-first – a Hollywood action-comedy The Chase for Carrera in order to commemorate 60 years of the iconic TAG Heuer Carrera timepiece. Starring brand ambassador Ryan Gosling, the short film salutes the Carrera’s storied racing heritage in a no-holds- barred chase thriller that encapsulates the TAG Heuer motto, “The Race Never Stops” – and deserves to be watched with the lights out and popcorn at hand.
Starring TAG Heuer brand ambassador Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Gray Man) and Vanessa Bayer (I Love That For You, Saturday Night Live), the offbeat chase thriller sees Gosling on the run from Bayer’s Prop Master as she attempts to take his beloved TAG Heuer Carrera off his wrist – something he doesn’t plan on letting her do.
The film sees Gosling and Bayer battle it out in high-octane style, as everything from iconic sports cars to heavy-duty trucks to electric production buggies are raced through various movie sets in a spectacle of blockbuster proportions. In a knowing nod to its film-within-a-film set-up, Leitch plays himself as the on-screen director.
Produced by David Leitch’s 87 North – responsible for some of the most iconic action films of the last decade, from John Wick to Deadpool 2 to last year’s Bullet Train – and directed by Nash Edgerton (Mr Inbetween), Gosling shot The Chase for Carrera while working with Leitch on feature The Fall Guy in Australia. Both Gosling and Leitch contributed to The Chase for Carrera’s creative and the result is pure box-office.
It’s a fitting celebration of an iconic timepiece that was born of the racetrack when it was first created in 1963 by TAG Heuer’s legendary former CEO Jack Heuer. Named after the notoriously dangerous Carrera Panamericana race, it was designed with readability and simplicity in mind, vital for drivers navigating high-speed bends. The result was an icon – elegant and uncluttered, sporty and daring – that spoke to Heuer’s love of mid-century design yet remains timeless six decades on.
What better way, then, to celebrate its 60th year than with a world-first action extravaganza that few would even think possible? The film even comes with its own Hollywood posters and timeless taglines. “How bad does he want that watch?” reads one. Answer: badly.
The iteration of the Carrera that Gosling is desperate to keep hold of is the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph. Topped with a “glassbox”, a sapphire crystal dome that flows seamlessly over the tachymeter scale that runs around the dial edge and into the case, it comes in a stunning signature blue dial on a blue calfskin leather strap. An icon never looked so modern – and no wonder Gosling is not about to give it up easily. This is one timepiece worth putting your foot down for – literally. Bayer’s Prop Master, meanwhile, is wearing the new TAG Heuer Carrera 36mm in pink.
It represents a world-first for a luxury brand, as Gosling will continue to wear different iterations of TAG Heuer Carreras in multiple iconic Hollywood roles. Last year, the actor could be seen wearing the minimalist TAG Heuer Carrera Three Hands as the unflappable Agent Six in the Netflix spy thriller The Gray Man. Proof, as if proof were needed, the Carrera is truly a global icon in its own right.
