TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma: Exploring the Potential of Lab-Grown Diamonds

Having a fascination with diamonds is effectively human nature. Even long before we were able to cut and polish them, they were regarded as precious stones. Now we can not only unlock the inner beauty of natural diamonds, and show their fire and scintillation by machining them in different cuts, but new technology allows for us to even create diamonds in a lab.

While lab-grown diamonds have had a vail of controversy, they hold incredible potential, particularly for the watch industry. When you grow diamonds, you not only can get perfect clarity but also manipulate other aspects of the diamond. It can be used as sapphire currently is in watch design, only even better, as diamond is a harder material.

Making lab-grown diamonds is not an easy process just yet, but by experimenting with them now, the results are becoming all the more valuable for the future. TAG Heuer is doing just that, embracing this new technology and applying it on the Carrera Plasma.

My personal favorite aspect of the Carrera Plasma is the crown, which is machined out of a lab-grown diamond and shows the true potential of the technology. It also compliments the lab-grown diamonds that are set in the black anodized aluminum case. They are seemingly set at random, making them look reminiscent of the walls of a futuristic diamond mine. TAG Heuer brings the theme into the dial design by covering it with a polycrystalline diamond plate on which the hour markers are made from baguette-cut lab-grown diamonds.

The movement inside this revolutionary TAG Heuer is equally progressive, as Caliber Heuer 02T features a balance spring in a special carbon composite. This material is not only very lightweight but also anti-magnetic. It combines a tourbillon with a chronograph, and its precision meets the standards of COSC, meaning that it is also chronometer-certified.

The impressive capabilities of the movement combined with the use of lab-grown diamonds make for a unique TAG Heuer that represents the company's future in one of its most iconic designs to date.

What will the future hold for lab-grown diamonds in the watch industry? I believe it can potentially complement, if not replace, sapphire crystal. As we are able to control more and more of the growing process and can increase the size of the diamonds, more parts of a watch can be made.

It might take a few years, but don't be surprised when in the future, you perhaps will see a TAG Heuer Carrera capsulated in a lab-grown diamond case, where you can admire through its lab-grown diamond dial, a skeleton movement with the bridges made from a lab-grown diamond as well. The future or a dream? Perhaps both.

The TAG Heuer Carrera Plasma is available at select retailers for $376,000.

For more info, visit TAG Heuer, here

What is your opinion about lab-grown diamonds? Let us know in the comments.