TAG Heuer and Hodinkee are revealing their third collaboration this week in a new Seafarer reference within the Carrera collection. The new watch recalls the vintage Seafarer references made for Abercrombie & Fitch, a watch with roots based in the mid 20th century, beginning with the Solunar and reference 346, and ending with the inspiration for this collaboration, the reference 2446C. Each of the Seafarer watches are distinct for the use of blue within the dial, and their nifty ‘tide disc’ which could give you the times for the high and low tides each day when set. The look is unmistakable, and it’s been recreated here within the modern glassbox style 42mm Carrera Chronograph.
The previous TAG Heuer x Hodinkee collaborations resulted in the Carrera Skipper and Carrera Dato, two favorites that honor interesting moments in Heuer’s history. The Seafarer falls along similar lines, and presents a rather peculiar complication in a modern way. This one goes beyond the surface level design, and preserves the original functionality, though in a slightly different manner. The tide indication would have been an easy element to simply design into the dial, so I’m happy to see that they’ve gone the extra mile to include the functionality.
Where the 2446C used a crown along the 9 o’clock side of the case, this modern variation uses a pusher with the label “TIDE” to denote its function. A single press will advance the tide disc, which makes a full rotation every 29.5 days, in one hour increments. The sub dial itself is split into blue and white segments, with the blue meant to indicate high tide ranges, and the white indicating low tide ranges. You’ll need some help from a tide table of the area you plan to put the watch to use, but once set should keep you roughly on track for your outdoor activities. As you likely have guessed from its rotation cycle, it can also be used to indicate the phases of the moon.
The design of the max ebb and max flow indicators is taken from the reference 2443, which features a crescent moon at the tip of the max flow needle. This is such a strange and wonderful use case that has informed the design, and gives a huge amount of character that works as well here as it did on the original examples. It reminds me of the decompression charts printed directly onto the dial of a watch like the Vulcain Nautical Cricket. It’s hard to imagine anyone using these features today, but they preserve what was at one time something of an art form.
While the functionality may be old school, the rest of the watch feels thoroughly modern in the new 42mm Glassbox Carrera case. The dramatic bezel element slopes sharply toward the crystal, but sits underneath, meaning it cannot be rotated. There’s plenty of depth to enjoy within the somewhat organic design happening here, and it makes a huge statement on the wrist. This isn’t a small watch, and feels like the larger platform gives the big design enough room to breathe in a practical manner.
The 2446C was released in 1968, and in honor of that year, 968 examples of this modern Seafarer collaboration will be produced. It uses the TH20-13 in-house Tide Indicator Chronograph Caliber, which is visible through an exhibition caseback, and will ship on a black rubber strap. The watch is available now from Hodinkee, and is priced at $7,950. Hodinkee / TAG Heuer