The world of motorsport is no stranger to watch brands, from brand ambassadors to to team sponsors right on up to series sponsors, the sport is inundated with watch brands. For the upcoming 2024 Formula 1 season, a new pair of brands will be making their debut on the grid, and they are Tudor and H. Moser. The news was overshadowed by the shock announcement of Lewis Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes at the conclusion of the ‘24 season, which will see him driving for Ferrari from the ‘25 season, but it’s worth noting and pondering what it may mean for each of these brands.
Tudor has an existing relationship with Red Bull Sports, and this year that extends to the Visa Cash App Red Bull (still processing that name…) F1 team and drivers Daniel Ricardo, and Yuki Tsunoda. Last year, Tudor released a pair of Pelagos FXD watches with carbon cases in honor of their relationship with the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, which were well received apart from the decision to place a Red Bull Racing label within the top of the rehaut on the dial (in truth, it’s not all that noticeable). Given the popularity of Formula 1 racing, it seems a safe bet that Tudor will leverage the relationship to launch another special edition or two to capitalize. Then again, predicting what Tudor will do has never been that straightforward.
Tudor’s use of carbon could be telling, however. It’s a new material for the brand and it’s likely to be used beyond the relatively niche FXD / Alinghi Red Bull examples. A watch focused on the F1 relationship would likely also take advantage of the material, as would the timing functions of a chronograph. Whether that would be in the Black Bay collection or something entirely new remains to be seen, but the addition of a chronograph within the FXD range offers a few more options to be explored.
Elsewhere, H. Moser announced a new partnership with Alpine Motorsports, which encompasses Alpine’s entire brand spectrum. Alpine revealed their car for the ‘24 F1 season, the A524, just this week, moving to a more aggressive black carbon look with the pink BWT branding moved to the rear section. H. Moser is represented just forward of the cockpit, which should make it visible in the t-cam views on track. The team’s drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, have been photographed in their new suits sporting H. Moser watches (Streamliner chronographs), and will likely be seen with them throughout the season. Just where the car stands in terms of competitiveness remains to be seen, but the new concept is looking more aggressive than usual.
Just how this relationship will manifest itself in terms of H. Moser watches will be even less predictable than Tudor. H. Moser is known for creativity around unorthodox shapes and materials and this relationship could prove to be fertile ground for exploring new solutions in these realms.
Pre-season testing for the 2024 F1 season begins February 21st in Bahrain, which is where we’ll get our first look at each of the new cars on track and hopefully get a sense of which will look to be in a position to present a challenge to Red Bull and Max Verstappen, if any. Stay tuned for more F1 coverage as the season gets underway proper on March 2nd in Bahrain.