TAG Heuer Becomes the Official Timekeeper of Formula 1

Highlighting the various sponsorships that watch brands engage in is not something we normally cover as news here on Worn & Wound. That’s partly because these kinds of commercial ventures rarely have much to do with what we think of watch enthusiasm, given that they’re executed by enormous corporations who historically have little regard for the hobbyist and enthusiast segment of the market. It’s also because there are so many, it would become hard to draw a line in the sand to determine what is and is not newsworthy. Virtually every watch brand sponsors something, it’s one of the most time tested marketing tactics available to a watch brand. And the very nature of watchmaking means that there are natural relationships to be formed between brands and companies in a myriad of other disciplines. Few of those disciplines match motorsport when it comes to overlap in the proverbial Venn Diagram of the two interests, and F1 in particular has a higher than average profile. So when a storied watch brand announced a return to F1 sponsorship recently, we thought it was worth discussing. 

TAG Heuer announced recently that they’ll be returning as the official F1 timekeeper when the new season gets underway in March. TAG Heuer has an association with motorsport that is nearly unmatched among watch brands, so you can expect the brand to be making a pretty big deal out of the new partnership in the 75th anniversary F1 season. 

This is not the first time TAG Heuer has joined forces with F1. The relationship goes back decades in a number of different contexts. They were the first luxury watch brand to have their logo splashed across a F1 car in 1969, and they became the first to sponsor a team two years later in 1971. According to TAG Heuer, over the years the brand has been associated with teams that have won 239 races, reached 613 podiums, posted 9,471 points, and won 11 World Constructors’ Championships and 15 World Drivers’ Championships. 

The key moment in TAG’s long history with Formula 1 came ahead of the 1969 season when Jack Heuer met Jo Siffert, an up and coming driver from Switzerland. He was able to convince Siffert to support the launch of Heuer’s iconic Calibre 11 automatic chronograph movement by adding a logo to his car for the upcoming season. Siffert also wore the Heuer shield on his race suit and wore a reference 1163 Autavia while at the wheel. This event is acknowledged as the first time a brand from outside the automotive world took on a sponsorship interest in F1, opening the floodgates to a new era of the sport. The ripple effects are still being felt over 50 years later. 

Heuers association with Ferrari defined their presence in F1 for much of the 1970s, including the development of a timing system for Ferrari’s new test track in Italy. The device, the Le Mans Centigraphe, traveled with the Ferrari from race to race, and its use drove other teams to develop similar technologies. 

In the 1980s, TAG Heuer released a watch bearing the Formula 1 name that became a sensation and defined the brand for a generation. The colorful cases, straps, and dials were representative of both a new era for watches and F1. The impact of the Formula 1 watch is hard to understate. When it was reissued last year with streetwear brand Kith, it became a conversation point in the watch community for weeks, with many enthusiasts debating its merit, price, and predicting a resurgence in popularity of the beloved watch, and perhaps a new version at some point down the road. 

TAG Heuer now becomes the official timekeeper of F1 when the sport has reached what most would likely consider a peak in its popularity. Spurred on in part by the “Drive to Survive” program chronicling backstage drama on the circuit, as well as easier than ever access to view races, practices, and other F1 content through streaming platforms, it stands to reason that TAG is in a position to be put in front of a meaningfully large new audience who may have been used to seeing another watch brand featured prominently at F1 events. 

While it’s easy for enthusiasts to scoff at the idea of this kind of marketing having an impact (same with celebrity endorsements and traditional product placement) there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that it works. And considering F1’s worldwide popularity, TAG has an opportunity here to define itself for an entire generation of current and (more importantly) future watch collectors. With LVMH Watch Week upcoming, and Watches & Wonders to follow, we’ll be looking closely at TAG Heuer to see how they attempt to leverage this new partnership, as it would be almost unthinkable for them not to market new products around it. 

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Zach is a native of New Hampshire, and he has been interested in watches since the age of 13, when he walked into Macy’s and bought a gaudy, quartz, two-tone Citizen chronograph with his hard earned Bar Mitzvah money. It was lost in a move years ago, but he continues to hunt for a similar piece on eBay. Zach loves a wide variety of watches, but leans toward classic designs and proportions that have stood the test of time. He is currently obsessed with Grand Seiko.
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