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] In this season of a matter of time, we're exploring the amazing Monaco collection. We've already discussed its birth, its incredible relationship with Steve McQueen, its history in the seventies, and particularly the nineties with the relaunch and amazing complications that were born in the two thousands. If you haven't already heard these episodes, please do go back and take a listen.
[00:00:34] Today we're discussing one of the most indelible partnerships tag Heuer has had in its modern era, and that is with golf.
[00:00:45] For many people, the golf aesthetic is golf blue and the orange stripes made famous on racing cars and racing suits around the world. But for us, it runs deeper than that. It's a great connection, an iconic livery that we've been able to leverage throughout the years. To understand where the idea came from for us to partner up with golf in the first place, we need to go back to the Steve McQueen story.
[00:01:09] We've already discussed how our partnership with Steve came about in an earlier episode, so do go back and take a listen here. I want to talk specifically about John wire racing and the golf colours that emblazoned their cars.
[00:01:21] JW engineering, or JW racing as it's often called, was one of the most famous racing team operators throughout the 1960s and 1970s, starting with the Ford GT Forty S and moving on to the dominant Porsche nine hundred seventeen s and often seeing the colours presented on things like the 908s, hill climb cars that were existed for Targa Florio as well. John Wyer and his team were among the most famous and celebrated engineers and team operators that existed at the time, ranking up there with the works entries from Porsche and Ferrari and other famous operators such as Luigi Cinetti and his north american racing team that we discussed in the earlier season around Carrera.
[00:02:02] At the time, motorsport sponsorship was dominated by suppliers in the automotive industry, spark plugs from the likes of NGK or champion brake suppliers such as AP racing or brembo, and of course petrol supplies such as Texaco. And we get to it. Golf. It still had the similar structure to today, where often one title sponsor could dominate the entire livery of a car. Most famously, names like Marlborough would paint a car red and white. But for golf that meant its famous sculf blue and orange stripes. This livery would become among the most iconic and recognised weve ever seen in motor racing and it would be so serendipitous that in 1970, as Steve McQueen was filming, he would find himself piloting one of these amazing Porsche 917 featuring the colours of golf.
[00:02:51] As a result, when Tag Heuer relaunched the Monaco in 97 and following on in the next decade, the relationship with Steve McQueen would be reinforced. As this was explored, of course, the golf colours would resurface, no doubt showing off on mood boards for product managers and development teams during this epoch. And by 2007, it was clear that it was a great name and a great colourway for us to present on a collection of watches.
[00:03:15] The first limited edition would arrive in that year and would be met with great success. It would run in place for a little while, followed by successive editions around the Monaco. We would see it on the 24 collection and not long afterwards, with its fascinating, shock absorbing movement with the Hoya Calabur 36 based on the Zenith El Primero. But then we will get to 2016 and much like our story with Porsche, whilst we'd been close to each other for a very long period of time, we'd not had an official partnership in place.
[00:03:45] This would change for 2016 as we signed together for a joint relationship. That would mean that we could really push ourselves further forward and enjoy the relationship to its fullest extent.
[00:04:00] Successive iterations of the golf can collection have followed since not only around Monaco, but also the Formula one pieces, those most connected to motor racing. And weve been lucky to share great moments. Golf have continued to be key sponsors in motorsport, especially in Formula one, where theyve had a number of teams that theyve formed close partnerships with over the years. And for me, one of the great pleasures was in 2022 when we launched the latest iteration of the Golf Monaco, powered by our in house Heuer zero two movement and adapting some of the colours and applying the logo for the first time to the dial.
[00:04:33] We were able to present it at the Monaco Grand Prix historique and in 2022, we would present the latest version with our own in house Heuer zero two calibre. And the iconic golf colours still applied to the dial. But for the first time ever featuring the golf logo, applied at 06:00 we were able to debut the new collection together with our great partners in senior management at the Monaco Grand Prix historique during the weekend's fun around historic racing, where we would also create an amazing visual campaign together with our partners at Rothko Racing, who have become close friends as well, who famously owned the Formula one car in golf colours, the Tyrrell zero zero seven.
[00:05:13] It was incredible to see these amazing historic cars on track and a real great personal privilege for me. And not only that, to imagine oneself back in the era of the defining moments for the golf livery. To imagine what it would have been like to be around the pits in this period, meeting these amazing drivers, hearing these incredible sounds of these engines running around the streets of Monaco. It really took you back to this golden age of motor racing and the very beginning of our relationship with golf.
[00:05:45] We're pleased to continue this partnership today, and we're already imagining what the new watches for the future might look like featuring these distinctive golf colors.
[00:05:55] The golf moniker has become so iconic that not only do we present it to the winners of the different formulas during the Grand Prix historique in Monaco in 2022, that it also that year would go on to win the iconic watch prize at the Grand Prix d'Orologia de Geneve, the so called oscars of watchmaking, cementing this incredible watch in the history of our industry and really confirming its place as one of the most not only iconic models in watchmaking, but also one of the most iconic partnerships and iconic liveries that we've seen on race cars throughout the whole history of the sport.
[00:06:32] Thanks for joining me for today. A matter of time. We do hope you've enjoyed it. Please don't forget to give us some feedback on what you thought of today's episode, and I'm looking forward to welcoming you next time.
