Case #720 — TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Black Ref. CV2113

Case #720 — TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph, Black Dial

Ref. CV2113

Status: Available

Condition: Very Good Pre-Owned

Scope: Box, Papers, and Cards

🔎 Case Notes

Before the Carrera grew into the 41 mm, 43 mm and 45 mm sizes that dominate the modern catalogue, there was this: a 39 mm steel chronograph with a black dial, three recessed registers and nothing on the bezel but a clean polished edge. The CV2113 is the restrained end of the Carrera story — a watch that reads as a dress chronograph from two feet away and as a racing instrument the moment you look closer.

The dial is the argument. Black, with applied index hour markers, luminous hands and markers, and a date window positioned between 4 and 5 o'clock — a placement that keeps the three-register symmetry intact rather than cutting a subdial in half. The subdials carry a subtle concentric guilloche texture, which is what stops the layout from looking flat under glass.

This example is graded Very Good Pre-Owned. BST's physical inspection found it in very nice shape with only minor wear present — honest, worn-and-cared-for condition rather than a safe-queen. It arrives on a black leather strap with steel deployant clasp, and the accompanying scope is the one collectors actually want on a discontinued reference: Box, Papers, and Cards.

The production year of this individual watch is not documented in BST's records, so it is listed as unknown rather than estimated. The strap is sized to fit an approximately 7½-inch wrist.

🕰️ The Evidence

• Reference: CV2113 (full factory designation CV2113.FC6180 for the leather-strap configuration)
• Model / Collection: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph
• Year: Unknown
• Case: Stainless Steel
• Case Diameter: 39 mm
• Thickness: 13.5 mm
• Lug-to-Lug: Approximately 47 mm
• Lug Width: 19 mm
• Dial: Black, applied index markers, luminous hands and markers, date between 4 and 5 o'clock
• Crystal: Sapphire
• Bezel: Fixed stainless steel, polished
• Caseback: Solid steel
• Movement: TAG Heuer Calibre 17, automatic chronograph (ETA 2894-base architecture; sources occasionally list this reference under other Carrera calibres, so BST notes the movement as Calibre 17 on the strength of the registered subdial layout)
• Power Reserve: Approximately 42 hours
• Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds at 3, date, chronograph — central 1/5-second seconds hand, 30-minute totaliser at 9, 12-hour totaliser at 6
• Water Resistance: 50 m
• Strap: Black Leather Strap
• Clasp: Steel Deployant / Folding Clasp
• Bracelet Fit: Approximately 7½-inch wrist
• Condition: Very Good Pre-Owned — minor wear present throughout, consistent with careful use
• Mechanical Observation: Winding and chronograph operation functioned normally during BST inspection. No timing-machine figures were recorded, and no accuracy claim is made.
• Included: Box, Papers, and Cards

🌟 Collector Provenance

The CV2xxx family is the generation in which TAG Heuer rebuilt the Carrera as a permanent catalogue pillar rather than a periodic re-edition. The 39 mm CV2113 sat within a tightly organised run of siblings — 39 mm silver-dial and black-dial versions on leather, alongside 41 mm variants on steel bracelets — and it occupied the quietest, most classical corner of that range.

What distinguishes it now is simply size. The reference is discontinued, and the Carrera chronograph has since moved decisively upward in diameter. A 39 mm steel automatic chronograph with 47 mm lug-to-lug and 13.5 mm of thickness is a proportion the modern catalogue no longer offers in this collection, and it is the proportion a significant share of buyers now hunt for on the secondary market. Collectors seeking a vintage-scaled chronograph without accepting vintage-watch servicing risk tend to arrive at exactly this reference.

The movement choice matters too. Where the Calibre 16 Carreras use the taller Valjoux-derived architecture, the Calibre 17 layout here — small seconds at 3, 30-minute register at 9, 12-hour register at 6 — produces a lower case and a more even dial, which is precisely why this configuration reads as dressier than its siblings.

🌟 Design Provenance

The first generation of Heuer Carrera was produced between 1963 and 1970, built around the idea of stripping away decorative elements so the chronograph function could be read cleanly — a brief handed down from motorsport timing, where legibility at speed was not a styling preference but a requirement.

That logic survives intact in the CV2113. There is no tachymeter-crowded bezel, no colour-blocked register scheme, no applied texture competing with the hands. The polished fixed bezel frames the dial rather than annotating it, and the applied indices and luminous handset carry the legibility load. The result is a watch that follows the original Carrera design reasoning more faithfully than many louder descendants.

It also explains the reference's dual personality. On black leather with a hidden folding deployant clasp, it reads formally; the three registers and the sweep of the chronograph hand keep it from ever reading as merely a dress watch.

🧾 From the Case File

Practically, this is an easy watch to live with. Thirty-nine millimetres across with a sub-50 mm lug span suits a wide range of wrists, and the relatively slim chronograph profile slides under a cuff in a way that bulkier Valjoux-based Carreras do not. The strap is fitted for an approximately 7½-inch wrist, and the deployant clasp means the leather is not repeatedly bent through a pin buckle — longer strap life and a more secure fit.

The chronograph itself is the genuinely useful kind: central seconds, a 30-minute counter and a 12-hour counter, so anything from a parking meter to a long drive can be timed without mental arithmetic. The date sits between 4 and 5 o'clock, readable but visually out of the way.

Water resistance is rated at 50 m — appropriate for daily wear, handwashing and weather, and not intended for swimming or diving.

The scope is the practical advantage here. On a discontinued reference, Box, Papers, and Cards is not a given, and it is the configuration most buyers later wish they had held out for. Combined with Very Good Pre-Owned condition showing only minor wear, this is a complete, presentable, wearable example rather than a project.

🗝️ BST Verdict

A 39 mm steel Carrera chronograph with a black dial, a clean fixed bezel and a low-profile Calibre 17 layout — the most classically proportioned expression of a collection that has since grown considerably larger.

Discontinued, correctly sized for current tastes, honestly worn, and accompanied by its Box, Papers, and Cards. For a buyer who wants a Carrera that behaves like the 1963 brief intended, this is the configuration to look at.

👉 Every case deserves a closer look.