The updated CA 1:1 replica TAG Heuer Carrera “Glassbox” has a 39mm diameter, measures 46mm lug-to-lug, and is 14mm thick. It has a bezel-less construction, with the glassbox crystal fitted directly into the midcase. The lugs are highly polished, while the midcase is brushed on the sides. The dimensions wear nicely, though not without flaws (more on that in a moment). The dial has a concave shape where the outer scale’s markers are placed on the upward-sloped portion of the dial and the numerals sit at the top. This has the effect, particularly when viewed at an angle, of filling up the domed crystal. It’s an odd solution to the “problem” posed by the Glassbox design, namely, what to do with all that negative space, but one that absolutely fascinated me all week. It’s unlike any of the previous Glassbox dials, but it feels like a modern take on the original retention ring that provided a third dimension to the original Carrera. A general theme here is that luxury fake TAG Heuer has taken plenty of heritage inspiration for the new Glassbox, but hasn’t overdone it.
The black perfect replica TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox comes on a comfy, padded leather strap that’s perforated to call to mind old-school racing straps. The strap tapers from 20mm to 18mm and is attached with a double-trigger deployant clasp. Because of the padding, it’s actually a bit tough to thread through the deployant, but if you can floss your teeth, you can size this clasp. The strap leans a bit into the racing cosplay of the Carrera, but that’s fine; watches, especially vintage super clone watches, are a lot of cosplay anyway.
I chose to spend a week with the black dial, but there’s also a more modern-looking blue TAG Heuer super clone online CA. I get why some people (read: Danny Milton) prefer the blue dial, but I just couldn’t get over the phantom seconds subdial that bleeds into the 6 o’clock date window.
The black aaa quality replica TAG Heuer Carrera takes more queues from Heuer’s heritage, a direct callback to the ref. 2447NST and its reverse panda layout with black dial and silver sub-registers. There’s “fauxtina” lume on the hands and plots above the applied hour markers. I found the application modest enough to be inoffensive. The hands have a black strip running down the middle, calling to mind the second-gen of the original TAG Heuer Carrera fake for men, when a black strip was added to increase legibility. The sub-registers are well executed, with the font harkening back to the original Singer-produced Carrera dials.
Of course, we have to talk about the date placement. The date window sits at 12 o’clock and actually plays with the rest of the dial relatively well. But part of this is because when the chronograph hand is zeroed out, it partially blocks the window, making it difficult to read. The positive spin on this, if you don’t really like date windows, is that it almost makes the copy watch feel like a no-date proposition. The critical (and more realistic) take is that it’s basically a design flaw.
Funny enough, when Heuer first introduced a date to the Swiss movement replica TAG Heuer Carrera in the ’60s with the Dato ref. 3147, it also placed the date window above 12 o’clock. It quickly realized the readability issue and moved the date window to nine o’clock, creating the now-iconic Dato that enthusiasts love and that served as inspiration for the Hodinkee Skipper and Dato limited editions. Sometimes, we don’t quite learn from our past mistakes.
Inside the high quality fake TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox is the manufacture caliber TH20-00. It’s an impressive, automatic chronograph movement that beats at 4 Hz and has an 80-hour power reserve. We’ll get to this in competition, but the caliber is best-in-class and pretty much unmatched at this price point. The TH20-00 is the next generation of the caliber Heuer 02, the in-house movement TAG Heuer copy for sale introduced in 2017. It has a column wheel and vertical clutch mechanism, exactly what you’d ask of a luxury, in-house chronograph caliber. The caliber is visible through the sapphire caseback. The industrial finishing isn’t much to look at, but it’s always fun to see a column wheel, basically the on-off switch for the chronograph mechanism, in action.