Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Welcome to A Matter of Time, a podcast by TAG Heuer. I'm your host, Nicholas Biebeck, heritage director at TAG Heuer and a lifelong enthusiast for fine Swiss watchmaking.
[00:00:15] My other great passion in life is in fact motorsport, which I think quite a few people will be familiar with. But it perfectly takes us into today's episode of A Matter of Time. In this season, we've been exploring the TAG Heuer Formula One collection. It's a name that perfectly summarizes the company's incredible and indelible connection to the world of motorsport and life on four wheels.
[00:00:39] It's easy today when you see unlimited numbers of watch and car partnerships taking place to think that every brand has a legitimacy in this space. But no other companies can compare to that of Heuer and TAG Heuer. From virtually the beginning of the company in 1860, the focus has been on the chronograph. As a complication, we can find in our corporate archives advertising and references to chronographs, stopwatches and the rattrapant. As a complication dating all the way back to 1880, at the turn of the 20th century, we can see the arrival of the automobile and aviation, and Heuer was at the forefront of this 1911 presenting the timer trip, the first dashboard mounted chronograph. Of course, 1933. This would extend to the Autavia dashboard timer as well. And of course, precision stopwatches, including the amazing micrograph that debuted in 1916, accurate to 1/100th of a second, were all regularly utilized in sporting events around the world, including those with cars and motorcycles.
[00:01:39] In the 1950s. As I've mentioned on previous episodes from this series, the company decided to focus on the chronograph complications specifically. And from the 1960s, we can already see visionary leader Jack Heuer forging relationships with drivers and teams, as he recognized that those with a passion for motorsport were ideal clients for Heuer. As a company, they had a sympathy for mechanical objects, so they were easy to market to and explain fairly technical topics. They had a need for timekeeping equipment as they attended races not only as drivers and team managers, but also as enthusiasts during an era where you expected to take your own timekeeping and write them down in your programs. And of course, generally they also had disposable income. If you could afford to operate a car in a motorsport event, you could probably justify the expense of a nice mechanical wristwatch.
[00:02:29] So in the 1960s, we can see the beginning of all of the celebrated drivers wearing our beautiful watches, the likes of Jochen Rindt and James Hunt can be seen wearing our Autavia and Carrera models, respectively, in the manual wind configurations that debuted in the 1960s. And one of my favorite stories arrives in 1968. Jack Hoyer is playing golf with his bank manager and explaining how they want to present this amazing new revolutionary automatic chronograph, the calibre 11. His golfing partner says, ah, maybe you should have a conversation with the young driver, Joe Siffert. He's from Freiburg. He's the son of a farmer. He's looking for sponsorship to support his racing ambitions. And perhaps he could be the right man to present this watch to the world. At the Beginning of the 1969 season, Joe is racing in Formula One. And what logo adorns the side of his car? The Heuer shield with the distinctive chronomatic name right next to it. In fact, these logos would appear in advance of the presentation of the watches, being the first, shall we say, strategic leak by a company that I'm aware of in the watchmaking industry. Joe would go on to be a great partner for us, not only having our logo on his suit and on his cars, but in fact, even selling our watches to mechanics and drivers in the paddock to raise additional funds, buying them a cost from the brand and selling them at retail to those that he competed with throughout this golden period, Formula one, it will be a golden period for the brand as well. And what would encapsulate this most perfectly, a golden watch, the reference 1158 CHN Carrera, and also a few examples of the champagne dial pieces as well, would appear on the likes of Arturo Mezzario, Enzo Ferrari, Mauro Figueri, Ronnie Peterson, Mario Andretti, Vittorio Brambilla, Mike Hailwood. The list of names at the top flight of Formula one would be endless that would wear this watch.
[00:04:21] It would become more than something they would strap to their wrist to tell the time. It would become a piece of good luck. And Jack, in fact, would inscribe a number of these pieces with a message of success. Congratulations, good luck for the coming seasons. And these would become totems. They would become talismans for these drivers. Of course, as we've explored in this season, the 1980s would be a difficult time for the brand. But with the acquisition by TAG Group and the amazing symbiotic connection between Porsche, who had been building the TAG Turbo engines, and TAG Group, who had acquired TAG Heuer, it would really bring the story full circle. And from this point forward, we would see all of the celebrated names Racing for McLaren wearing our watches and having the logo on the front of the cars. Utilizing these imagery in advertising campaigns, including the profoundly successful Don't Crack Under Pressure. It would give us a cultural resonance that had not really been seen up until that point in the watchmaking industry.
[00:05:18] As technical timekeeping would develop within the brand, our service would become more and more in demand. Whether it was for skiing or athletics. It was Hoya timekeeping equipment that would be present at many of the top flight events. So it's not surprising that in 1992 we would become the official timekeeping partners for Formula One. We would be able to use the technology that we had developed to be able to support them into a transition that would present timekeeping information in a way that was revolutionary for audiences at home.
[00:05:49] Seeing live timekeeping data that was being processed on site and broadcast globally to audiences at home for live feeds was a revolution. And in fact, it would become part of what would make Formula One as a sport the entertainment powerhouse that it is today.
[00:06:04] We would be present on tracks around the world following the Formula One circus up until 2003.
[00:06:12] And then in 2004, we would form a relationship with the Indianapolis 500.
[00:06:17] This is another one of our long term relationships that had initially seen us produce pieces in the 1960s with their logo on the dial before becoming fully official in 2004, and one that still continues to this day, more than 20 years later.
[00:06:32] It would also help us to develop 1/10,000 a second precision for use in motorsport, given that at Indy 500 it would regularly be a photo finish for the fastest cars.
[00:06:43] Since 2016, we've been a partner of Oracle Red Bull Racing and this has culminated in three World Drivers Championships for Max Verstappen, someone who's become a great friend of the brand. And we're proud to see him wearing one of our amazing Monaco Rattrapants at tracks around the world, since we presented it to him at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2024.
[00:07:01] Alongside Max, of course, we see Checo wearing signature watches from us and of course team principal Christian Horner. But it's more organic than that. I'm lucky that I get to attend a number of Grand Prix globally every year and to walk through the paddock or stand in the grandstands and see so many people wearing Tag Heuer watches. Whether it's new pieces, vintage pieces, Tag Heuer, Formula one pieces, Carrera Collection or the Monaco, it's fantastic to see the breadth of watches and references that are on display. This goes to show how organic our relationship is. With the sport and with the discipline. I think for me, it's something that really drew me to the brand from a very young age and something that I think resonates with those who have a great passion for motorsport and motor racing around the world.
[00:07:45] It's something that you can't buy in a way. Of course, we can present advertising and imagery that resonates in a certain way with particular clients, but the fact is you need to believe it in your heart to bring yourself to a brand and to wear one of our watches with pride every day. To support your favorite drivers, to support your favorite teams. And for many, much like the drives of the 1970s, these watches have become a good luck charm, a reference to an amazing moment in their life. Forging memories with pieces that are so close and so important to the heart of those who wear them.
[00:08:20] I hope you've enjoyed this season of A Matter of Time where we've taken a deep dive into the TAG Heuer Formula One collection. We're looking forward to recording more seasons in the future. If you've got any comments of what you would like to hear going forward, we would love to hear them. Thanks again and looking forward to welcoming you for more episodes in the future.
