Cars & motorsport
Scrabble The Seconds: The Profound TAG Heuer-Motorsports Connection
Beyond its newly revived relationship with Formula 1, TAG Heuer’s heart and soul have been petrol-fueled for decades and decades.
By Mike Espindle
Executive Editor
The 2025 season marks LVMH’s takeover of the coveted Formula 1 global partnership role. To those of us who follow motorsports, it wasn’t exactly a surprise that TAG Heuer has become the LVMH brand deriving the most visibility within the sport.
The Maison’s ties with racing run deep, having served as the Official Timekeeper of F1 for more than a decade from 1992 to 2003. Now, it returns to the esteemed position, and it’s upping the ante. TAG Heuer is also the title sponsor of this year’s Monaco Grand Prix. While this may be a bona fide first for F1, it’s certainly well within the spirit of the brand’s longstanding involvement with the sport.
TAG-sponsored F1 teams have collected a whopping 230 Grand Prix wins, over 500 podium finishes, 15 World Drivers’ championship titles, and 11 World Constructors’ championship titles. However, the watchmaker’s unparalleled connection with motorsports goes back much further and is even more far-reaching than the pinnacle of a strong Formula 1 partnership.
One could write a fairly large book (even several large books?) chronicling TAG’s role in the automotive world. But for the sake of this story, let’s distill it down to two key historical mile markers that will help you get a grip on that high-octane tale.
1963: The First Carrera
Back when the watchmaker was named simply Heuer, a young Jack Heuer became fascinated with the relationship between motorsports and timepieces. One of his first business trips representing the brand was to Monaco for an early Grand Pix race. However, his exposure to the 1962 Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico really got his motor running: “When I heard the word ‘Carrera’ for the first time, I thought, ‘That is a perfect name…'” he famously commented in a recent video documentary.
Of course, the German automaker Porsche seconded that emotion with the 356A Carrera roadster in 1954 and the first 911 Carrera in 1973. But more on that later…
Meanwhile, Heuer chronographs were making their way onto the wrists of professional drivers for their robustness and accuracy. In fact, Formula One champion Jo Siffert (who later practically became an unofficial sales rep for the watchmaker as so many of his colleagues wanted to know more about his watch), and, famously, actor Steve McQueen were early fans.
The first Carrera, Ref. 2447, hit the track in 1963, and the rest, as they say is history. While Jack Heuer was after simple, effective legibility and accurate chronograph readings during a race, what is now the TAG Heuer Carrera has become a chronograph synonymous with racing-inspired performance and impeccable style. Beyond the Carrera, TAG’s Monaco, Autavia, and other collections (even the TAG Connected smartwatch to some extent) boast mucho automotive appeal as well.
2021: TAG and Porsche Make It Official
It took a few decades for the watchmaker and carmaker to fully acknowledge their parallel journeys around the track and tie the knot. In 2021, we saw an official partnership between TAG Heuer and Porsche and a first round of impressive co-developed timepieces. However, hints of this impending relationship took shape a couple of years prior when TAG began sponsoring Porsche’s next-generation Formula E racing team in 2019.
A series of ongoing and spectacular collaborative timepieces has come to define what is arguably one of the strongest and most potential-laden timepiece/automotive relationships in either industry.
Still, TAG Heuer has its own racing-inspired drive in addition to its Porsche alignments. In fact, as recently as January’s LVMH Watch Week, we saw both Porsche-collaborative and independent TAG models that take the watchmaker even deeper into that fertile and vital intersection where watches meet wheels.
