STORIES Spoiler alert: 50 years of the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7

Every time it roared down the street, heads turned. Eyes popped open. Ears perked up. The adrenaline kicked in. This was the pure visceral effect of the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 when it was first launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 1972. 50 years later, the legend still lives rent-free inside every car connoisseur’s mind. ‘Duck tail’, ‘RS’ or ‘2.7’, the car has many nicknames. It was the first road sports car in the world to have a front and rear spoiler. They helped improve driving stability and freed drivers to go faster. Everyone wondered whether the RS was road legal. The answer was yes, it was made for the streets. Anyone could get one. Anyone could race one. What a time to be alive.

The idea behind the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was to create a road-legal vehicle that enabled customers to take part in racing events. That kind of thinking also led to the introduction of the Heuer Carrera. It was a chronograph engineered for optimal timekeeping and legibility in high-speed race conditions. But it wasn’t just for racing drivers. It was also made for driving enthusiasts who had a thirst for life at high speeds. This year, the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 turns 50. And to mark this milestone, TAG Heuer has also created two tribute timepieces. An homage to a car, and a chronograph, that changed the world of racing.

Enter the seventies. A vibrant, heady decade. To reflect these times, Porsche produced a wide range of Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 cars in 27 vivid colors. Two of these colorways, the iconic Grand Prix White with the red and blue combinations, inspired the new TAG Heuer Carrera tribute watches. The colors, set against the white body of the car, brought to life some of the automobile’s most unique features. The five-spoke rims, the Carrera and Porsche logos on the body panels and the famous solid line down the side of the car. 

At first glance, it’s easy to see how the two-tone aesthetic of the car has inspired TAG Heuer’s tribute timepieces. Both watches mirror the 42mm TAG Heuer Carrera chronograph with an elegant tri-compax layout, minutes and hour chronograph counters at 3 and 9 o’clock. The timepieces are equipped with TAG Heuer’s most advanced movement, the in-house manufactured Calibre Heuer 02. You can see the movement though the sapphire crystal case back. Its oscillating mass is customized to represent Porsche’s steering wheel and bears the two partners’ logos side by side. The watches come in blue and red. Let’s take a closer look at them.

A finely polished steel case. Check. Rhodium-plated indexes, hours and minutes hands. Check. These little details on the blue edition evoke the car’s chrome door handles, mirrors, and window frames. The dial is smooth white opalin. The two sub-counters have an eye-catching snailed finish. You’ll see Porsche’s design codes seamlessly integrated throughout the timepiece. Notice the blue lacquered chronograph, seconds hand and the pusher at 2 o’clock. Spot the shield logo on the crown and blue markings on the movement’s oscillating mass. The right sub-counter design recalls the rims’ aesthetic and the signature color stripe and Carrera logo grace the dial, case side and strap. Much like its muse, this timepiece is truly a bolt from the blue.

It feels as if the fire and the fury of the ‘Duck tail’ have been used to forge the red edition. Its refined case is 18K 5N rose gold, as are the crown, pushers, and the case back. The white dial is framed with a sizzling sporty red circular line and rose gold colored indexes. The signature Porsche color is also present in subtle red touches on the chronograph, seconds hands and sub-counter markings. The heat is turned up by the timepiece’s luxurious red alligator strap, finished with a rose gold pin buckle.

These two timepieces seek to shake and stir you the way the ‘Duck tail’ does. They seek to make heads turn and set pulses racing. They embody the Carrera spirit. There’s no better way to celebrate 50 years of the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7. If you’d like to find out more about these two timepieces, visit here.