What’s not to like about the Porsche 911 Carrera? Released in 1972 at the Paris Motor Show, and still hugely popular with collectors, it was the first 911 dedicated to motorsports and dubbed the “Carrera” – the name that had caught the imagination of watchmaker Jack Heuer when he first heard about the Carrera Panamericana race. In 1963, Heuer created a stylish chronograph bearing the name. Now the two are united on the same track.

Style, innovation and performance are hallmarks of both Porsche and TAG Heuer, and last year the two brands began a global partnership to cement these shared values. They’ve now released their fourth collaborative product design with two new limited-edition watches paying tribute to the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Inspired by the classic design of the Porsche 911, the new editions have been designed fusing significant details of the car’s silhouette with the sportily elegant chronograph that shares the name and spirit of Carrera. As Frédéric Arnault, TAG Heuer’s CEO, explains, they wanted to create a tribute watch ‘that would express the character and power of this groundbreaking sports car within our own signature TAG Heuer Carrera chronograph’.

The first Porsche 911 Carrera, designed for racing and rallying, embodied racing spirit, performance and elegance in a new way. It was a road-legal vehicle that drivers could race in. This is echoed in TAG Heuer’s Carrera watch, engineered for optimal timekeeping and legible in high-speed racing conditions, but at the same time sophisticated enough for the wrists of the amateur driver seeking elegance in everyday life.

The original RS 2.7 sports car was produced in a palette of 27 vivid colours beloved of the ’70s. The colours were bold and distinctive on the sports car’s five-spoke rims, the logos on the body panels and the solid line down the car’s side, while the rest of the car was bright white. Two of these colours, the red and blue, were chosen for the tribute watch.

Based on the 42mm TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph, the new limited editions deploy the two-tone design. With minute and hour chronograph counters at 3 and 9 o’clock, and a permanent second indicator and date window at 6 o’clock, the chronograph is powered by the advanced in-house Calibre Heuer 02, featuring its impressive power reserve of 80 hours. The sapphire crystal caseback reveals the oscillating weight’s customisation with a representation of Porsche’s three-spoke steering wheel and the two brands’ logos.

Both new editions borrow Porsche’s design cues, carefully integrated into the sleek design. The blue edition, limited to 500 pieces, has a steel case, rhodium-plated indexes and hours and minutes hands, nodding at the car’s chrome door handles, mirrors and window frames. It comes with both a sporty fabric strap carrying the Porsche logo and Carrera markings, and also a steel bracelet with H-shaped links. The luxurious red edition, with just 250 pieces, has an 18ct rose gold case with Porsche’s signature red detailing on the dial. It’s completed by an elegant red alligator strap.

‘The two timepieces we imagined together are sleek, assertive, memorable,’ says Arnault. ‘They reflect their illustrious past while also projecting something even more exciting – what Porsche and TAG Heuer can now achieve together.’

TAG Heuer x Porsche RS 2.7 Limited Editions, available in steel featuring blue detailing, £6,400, and rose gold with red details, £19,550; tagheuer.com