Who would have predicted that Barbie would be the biggest blockbuster of 2023?
With the movie taking $155 million in its first weekend, and receiving rave reviews from professionals and punters, it looks certain to be the most-watched film of the year.
That’s good news for TAG Heuer, because its big-name Hollywood brand ambassador, Ryan Gosling, not only stars alongside Margo Robbie in Barbie, he also squeezed three of the watchmakers classic Carrera chronographs into the plastic fantastic storyline as the vacuous Ken delights in showing off his arm candy to Barbie.
At one point, his rampant consumerism even prompts Ken to wear all three watches at once; a trend TAG Heuer will be delighted to encourage.
I don’t think it will be too much of a spoiler to share that the timepieces symbolise the shift from the fantastical timeless Barbie universe to the tangible real world where time is as immutable as gravity.
In the year that TAG Heuer’s Carrera is celebrating its 60th anniversary, it is fitting that Ken’s watches are all from the 1960s and 70s.
First up is a vintage reference 1158 CHN from 1971, an all-gold chronograph worn on a golden Milanese mesh bracelet.
Then there is a golden panda-dialled 1974 Carrera reference 110.515 in an unusual tonneau (barrel-shaped) case and worn on a solid gold 3-link bracelet.
Finally, we see a Carrera reference 2448 NT based on the original 1963 Carrera model with its black dial complementing a golden case.
