In October of last year, LVMH Group and Formula 1 announced a new 10 year global partnership, a move that would see Rolex exit as the sport’s official timekeeper. With the announcement came quick speculation as to which LVMH brand or brands might fill the now vacant role, and this week we get the largely expected answer: TAG Heuer. Long time racing fans will welcome the brand’s return to the official timekeeper position, which they held from 1992 to 2003, something of a golden era for the sport.
Rolex has enjoyed the title partnership as the official timekeeper since 2013, but TAG Heuer has retained a presence in recent years thanks to a partnership with Red Bull Racing, something that’s afforded them prime positioning thanks to the team’s dominance in the current regulation set. TAG Heuer has taken full advantage, releasing a new generation of the Carrera, as well as yearly special releases around the Monaco GP. On the heels of these moves, the company also saw some drastic changes in leadership since Frédéric Arnault took the reins of LVMH’s watch division, placing Julien Tornare as the CEO of TAG Heuer for a (very) brief stint before being succeeded by Antoine Pin.
TAG Heuer enjoys a rich history around motorsport, and high precision timing in general, so the return to Formula 1 for the sport’s 75th anniversary feels particularly fitting. Further still, the brand financed the development of an engine (built by Porsche) used by the McLaren-TAG Formula 1 cars that netted world championships in 1984 (Lauda) and 1985 (Prost), and a drivers championship in 1986 (Prost). Stepping back even further, we find the likes of Jochen Rindt wearing a reference 2446 during much of his racing career, putting the Carrera on the map with many racing fans.
Looking ahead, TAG Heuer will surely leverage their new position to bolster the modern Carrera collection, which is already quite diverse. I’d also expect to see plenty of race specific special editions and even heritage references return to celebrate the history of the brand within the sport. This will be a dramatic departure from Rolex’s time as official timekeeper, who is not known for special editions or even timed releases around races during the season. The only such release came around the 24 hour race of LeMans in 2023 with the release of the Daytona reference 126529LN.
What many of us are hoping for is the return of a new TAG Heuer Formula 1 regular production collection along the same lines of the KITH edition released in 2024. Big colors, non-exotic materials, and plenty of personality. Whatever the case ends up being around the watches, you can surely expect a new look around the track and paddock areas throughout the season as the classic Rolex green signage comes down. It won’t be the only new look, as the grid itself welcomes 5 new faces to the lineup.
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