Watches Where Time Meets Tide

Regattas are won in the mind before the wind. In 1967, when yacht Intrepid faced Australia’s Dame Pattie in the America’s Cup, every second of the fifteen-minute countdown mattered. Jack Heuer equipped the crew with Heuer Aquastar countdown timers; Intrepid dominated four races to nil. The 1968 Heuer Skipper chronograph, born from this victory, announced itself with vivid teal, orange, and green subdials echoing the boat’s deck, rigging, and flags.

But Heuer’s mastery of maritime timing began earlier. In 1947, Walter Haynes of Abercrombie & Fitch shared a tide-watch patent with Charles-Edouard Heuer. Their collaboration produced the 1949 Heuer Solunar—the world’s first wristwatch displaying permanent tide times. The 1950 Heuer Mareographe Seafarer chronograph followed, becoming essential for sailors reading water rhythms.

Today’s TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Seafarer channels 75 years of maritime innovation. The in-house Calibre TH20-04 revives tide indication at 9 o’clock. The tide complication works simply: at the center, a disc rotates once every 29.5 days—tracking the lunar cycle that governs the tides. A fixed 24-hour ring (numbered 0 to 12 twice for AM and PM) frames the subdial. To set it, look up the time of the next high tide at your location from a trusted source, then press the “TIDE” button at 9 o’clock until the white hand points to that exact time. Once set, the complication continuously displays whether the tide is rising or falling, and indicates the approximate time of the next high or low tide. On the caseback: the Victory Wreath, a symbol of success, echoes Jack Heuer’s tradition of gifting watches to racing drivers and champions in the 1970s.

From the decks of classic yachts to today’s regattas, the Swiss Maison’s maritime legacy reflects the same spirit of anticipation, control, and precision that defines every TAG Heuer chronograph. The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Seafarer celebrates this enduring connection — a watch built not only to tell time, but to read the rhythm of the sea itself.