Luxury brands are overtaking each other to place their logos on Formula 1 cars and driver overalls.
As Singapore gears up for its annual Formula 1 night race with endless signboards, a related but separate set of signs is being raised by many luxury brands. Finding their own unique affiliation with motorsport at its highest level, they’re exploiting F1’s popularity to engage with the affluent audience it draws. For some watch brands, that affiliation goes beyond a casual brand association to product partnerships and high-tech innovations.
From big design aesthetics to minimalist, functional updates, these brands are proclaiming their F1 link beyond just a team or a theme; it’s about performance, on and off the race track.
The watch industry can trace its sponsorship of motor racing back to 1971, when Heuer became the first brand to sponsor a Formula 1 team – and Jack Heuer’s personal love of motorsport and affinity with drivers turned them into walking advertisements for his chronographs. It paid off tremendously.
As TAG Heuer, the brand went on to launch the Formula 1 collection in 1986, four years after it became a partner with McLaren. This partnership would continue for more than 30 years and add a slew of non-watch products to TAG Heuer’s lineup.
With its return this year as F1’s official timekeeper, TAG Heuer has launched a broad range of products targeted at watch collectors who are also motorsport fans. Perhaps the sleekest of these is the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph F1, housed in a white ceramic case with a red-tinted sapphire crystal dial, housing one of the most challenging complications to produce in watchmaking: the rattrapante chronograph.
The TH81-00 self-winding chronograph calibre powering it is a high-frequency powerhouse, based on Vaucher’s Seed VMF 6710 movement with a split-seconds modification. The calibre sits on a single mainplate, with a one-piece reset hammer which is connected to the various heart cams of the chronograph for efficient function.
Under the dial, the two white ceramic bridges supporting the chronograph’s sub-counters are styled like the front wing of a Formula 1 car. Red accents on the split-seconds pusher and oscillating rotor, as well as the chequerboard pattern that represents the finish flag of a motor race, are found on the movement bridges. A variant with a new thermally treated titanium case, black-coated bridges and lime green accents was also released for the Monaco GP.
TAG Heuer isn’t the only watchmaker to pick up design and functional enhancements from the F1 world. Richard Mille has long befriended Ferrari, a connection that dates back to the time when Mille was friends with the team principal, Jean Todt. This expanded into an official partnership with Ferrari four years ago as an official sponsor of its motorsport activities and a licensee for its products.
In 2013, the watchmaker introduced the RM 036 Tourbillon G-Sensor Jean Todt, and this was followed by the RM 11-03 Jean Todt Limited Edition five years later. There are three others, the RM 58-01 World Timer Jean Todt, RM 050 Jean Todt and RM 056 Jean Todt, and a special 50th Anniversary coffret set in the motorsport executive’s favourite shade of blue.
Richard Mille is famous for creating haute horlogerie watches that use ultra-modern materials and technologies to deliver elegant durability (the founder famously used to toss his tourbillon watches on to the floor of the Messeplatz exhibition hall, back when Baselworld still existed.) As a Ferrari partner, the brand has released two references this year linked to the brand: the RM 72-01 “Charles Leclerc” and the RM 43-01 Ferrari Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph are available in red-and-white Quartz TPT, and Carbon TPT or grade 5 titanium respectively.
The latter, recently modelled by driver Lewis Hamilton, features a new calibre developed with a skeletonised architecture designed with Ferrari’s Centro Stile. The structure is inspired by a Ferrari engine block, with layered designs and a turbine seconds counter that appears to spin freely over the tourbillon regulator. Even for a Richard Mille watch, this is rather unorthodox and cool, especially with the Prancing Horse’s logo etched on a bridge resembling the rear wing of a 499.
Tudor has leaped into F1 after cornering the cycling and rugby sports. Like a young sportsperson that’s exploring what they can achieve in different niches, the motorsport partnership kicked off last year with Tudor’s sponsorship of the Visa Cash App RB team (previously known as AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso) since last year. The watchmaker introduced its first dedicated model for the team, the Black Bay Ceramic Blue last year, and it’s added the Black Bay Chrono Carbon 25, touting them as the watches worn by RB drivers Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.
The Black Bay Chrono Carbon 25 has a monobloc case similar to the Black Bay Ceramic with bevelled edges and brushed or blasted finishes. The MT5813 chronograph is chronometer standard and the Black Bay Ceramic “Blue” has Master Chronometer certification. They’re ultra-light watches using materials from F1, with blue dial and accents based on the team’s colours. It’s a subtle nod to the RB team, which took its first podium this year.
IWC’s close link with Mercedes is one of the most widely known partnerships in motorsport, in part because of the Schaffhausen watchmaker’s link with former Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. But this year is particularly striking for IWC because it’s gone beyond the race track to collaborate with Hollywood on the F1 movie, in which it plays a starring role as the sponsor of the APXGP team attempting a comeback. The project, which was realised by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Productions, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski, Lewis Hamilton and other big names, is one of the top 10 grossing films of the year and has been called the most authentic racing movie ever produced.
IWC’s commitment to the movie includes a pair of watches dedicated to a fictional Formula 1 team, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph APXGP in two sizes of 43 and 41mm. The brand’s iconic pilot’s dial with oversized Arabic numeral hours features a three-counter display with day-and-date window at three o’clock, small seconds at six, and chronograph totalisers at nine and 12. That’s not all. It also introduced a special edition of the refreshed Ingenieur Automatic 40 in a green dial with Grid motif, based on a bespoke watch worn by Pitt’s character in the movie. That original watch is a modified vintage Ingenieur that Pitt owns – it’s a touch of celebrity and motorsport in one elegant luxury sportswatch.
In the real world of F1, IWC has introduced several projects closely linked to the needs of racing drivers, such as the Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff x Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. The Shock Absorber XPL isn’t brand new; XPL stands for “experimental” and features a proprietary SPRIN-g PROTECT cantilever spring made from Bulk Metallic Glass, a crystalline metal alloy. It disperses up to 30,000Gs of shock experienced by the Ceratanium watch across the spring, which is placed around and under the movement. The winding stem of the watch also allows the movement to shift independently from the case, minimising its weakness as a point of connection. To prove this, IWC tested the XPL at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory.
If its six-digit price is too hefty, however, there are two Pilot’s Watch models, a 41mm Chronograph and a Mark XX, that are ideal daily beaters and just as striking thanks to their vivid teal dial accents and leather straps. Otherwise, the more discreet range of Pilot’s Watch Performance models in titanium or Ceratanium with a tachymeter bezel may be better suited.
This article first appeared here.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.