The name for the Heuer Carrera was inspired by the Mexican rally road race "Carrera Panamericana" which was one of the most deadly of its kind back in the 1950s. The Vintage Heuer Carrera is a series of beautiful chronographs designed by Jack Heuer to be both elegant and simple (most chronographs of this period had bezels). However the myriad of scale dials and designs meant that there was a version that appealed to all tastes, both sporting (the 1158CHN Carrera was worn by most of the 1970s Ferrari team, including Niki Lauda) and as a more sophisticated dress watch (Rolling stone frontman Mick Jagger & actor James Garner both owned and wore the 1960s versions).

The vintage Heuer Carrera ran from 1963 until 1985. Initially using the screw-back case for the Carrera 2447 / 3647 for the majority of the 1960s, then the cushion and barrel case design for the early to late 1970s. In the 1980s when the quartz crisis had decimated the Swiss watch industry, the final acts of the Heuer Carrera were played out with the Lemania and Quartz powered Carrera.