Over the course of the last several years, American fashion company Rowing Blazers has teamed up with several different watch brands to produce limited-edition timepieces that reimagine fan-favorite models with Rowing Blazers’ signature style. While the first Rowing Blazers collaboration watches were intended to be affordable offerings and priced at just several hundred dollars, the brand has also worked with more luxury-oriented manufacturers, and as its latest watch release of 2023, Rowing Blazers has teamed up with both TAG Heuer and Bamford Watch Department to create the most premium timepiece that it has put forward yet. Inspired by the vintage Heuer Yacht-Timer models that were used during regattas in the 1960s and 1970s, the new Rowing Blazers x Bamford x TAG Heuer Carrera embraces a colorful almost Pop Art-inspired aesthetic and will be produced as a limited edition.
Alongside three different capsule collections with Seiko, Rowing Blazers has also previously collaborated with Zodiac and even convinced Tudor to produce an exclusive version of the Black Bay Fifty-Eight that was only offered to friends and family of the brand. While the massive popularity of its Seiko collaborations is testament to the demand for watches that have the Rowing Blazers design twist, the Zodiac and Tudor models are proof that there are also people who are interested in owning co-branded Rowing Blazers timepieces at significantly higher price points. While the Tudor collaboration wasn’t available for sale to the general public, it seemed like only a matter of time before we would see Rowing Blazers team up with another luxury brand, and the new Rowing Blazers Carrera represents the company’s entry into an entirely different segment of the market.
Physical details about the watch are relatively minimal in the included press release, although with a case diameter of 42mm, the new Rowing Blazers x Bamford x TAG Heuer Carrera appears to be based on the standard full-size version of TAG Heuer’s flagship chronograph, which frequently serves as the foundation for the brand’s various limited editions and collaboration pieces. Crafted from stainless steel with a thin fixed bezel and the collection’s signature twisted lugs, the case of the Rowing Blazers Carrera features a signed crown at 3 o’clock that is flanked by a set of pushers, along with a screw-down display caseback and 100 meters of water resistance.
Looking through the display window in the caseback, which features the Rowing Blazers and Bamford Watch Department logos printed on its surface, you will see the same in-house Caliber Heuer 02 automatic chronograph movement that can be found inside the standard-production versions of this Carrera model, and it runs at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 80 hours. However, rather than being fitted with a gold-plated rotor like what you will find on most versions of the Carrera, the rotor attached to the movement of the new Rowing Blazers Carrera receives a jet-black finish.
Realistically speaking, the new Rowing Blazers Carrera is all about its vintage Heuer Yacht-Timer-inspired dial, and set against a crisp white surface are a trio of registers in red, blue, and green that feature a subtle cross-hatch motif that gives the watch a slightly Pop Art-inspired aesthetic and recalls the appearance of the dials fitted to the original Heuer regatta timers (reference images of the vintage Yacht-Timer are included in the gallery below). The hands on the sub-dials are color-matched to their respective registers, while the centrally-mounted hands appear in a vivid shade of orange with tinted lume and a contrasting yellow seconds hand. Additionally, while the standard version of the 42mm TAG Heuer Carrera features a date window at the 6 o’clock location, the new Rowing Blazers Carrera omits this feature, and instead opts for a simplified time-only format.
While the layout of the dial on the Rowing Blazers Carrera is fundamentally different from what you will find on the vintage Heuer Yacht-Timer that serves as its inspiration, the aesthetic connection is immediately apparent due to the unique colors chosen for its various elements. To recall the blue printing that can be found on the dial of the vintage Yacht-Timer, the text appears in a dark shade of blue, and the applied hour markers are also finished dark blue and filled with light blue luminous center sections. Meanwhile, the angled chapter ring embraces the inverted colorway of the indexes, and it is a pale blue color with dark blue markings for the minute track. Additionally, despite having a light blue lume on the hour markers, and yellow-colored lume for the hands, and the small rectangular plots on the outer perimeter of the dial, all of the luminous material on the new Rowing Blazers Carrera emits the same green-colored glow when viewed in the dark.
While the Rowing Blazers x Bamford x TAG Heuer Carrera comes with a stainless steel bracelet that appears to be the same flat H-link style that can be found on the standard-production versions of the 42mm Carrera, the watch also includes a red, white, and blue striped nylon NATO strap that further leans into its colorful and slightly preppy overall appearance. Additionally, rather than being packaged inside the standard TAG Heuer Carrera box, the Rowing Blazers Carrera receives a special box that recalls the iconic red and white style that was used by Heuer during the 1960s and 1970s to further draw a connection to the vintage Yacht-Timer model that serves as its inspiration.
Similar to past Rowing Blazers collaborations, the new Rowing Blazers Carrera was designed by the brand’s Founder Jack Carlson in collaboration with Eric Wind from Wind Vintage. However, because Bamford Watch Department is the official customizer for TAG Heuer, all of these entities worked together to bring this particular piece to life, and you therefore get the TAG Heuer emblem at the top, the Bamford logo subtly placed below the hands, and the Rowing Blazers name appearing in the brand’s signature font below the 6 o’clock register at the very bottom of the dial. Considering that the watch incorporates three different brands’ logos on the dial, it doesn’t feel at all cluttered or text-heavy, and I applaud the decision to refrain from putting any other writing on the dial, and instead relegating all of the various information about the watch to its caseback.
As previously mentioned, the new Rowing Blazers x Bamford x TAG Heuer Carrera is easily the most premium watch that Rowing Blazers has put forward thus far, and the new model is accompanied by an official retail price of $8,900 USD with production limited to just 99 examples. While this does represent a fairly significant premium above what TAG Heuer charges for the standard-production versions of the Carrera, I personally find the updated no-date dial to be a significant aesthetic improvement, and the use of fun and vibrant colors provides the new Rowing Blazers Carrera with a unique appearance that separates it from every other model. Given the overwhelming popularity of past Rowing Blazers watches, I imagine that the 99 pieces of this latest release will be claimed rather quickly, and with Rowing Blazers continuing to expand the diversity of its collaborators, it will be interesting to see what watch releases may come our way in the future. For more information on the Rowing Blazers x Bamford TAG Heuer Carrera, please visit the Rowing Blazers website.
