TAG Heuer returned as F1’s Official Timekeeper in 2025 by way of a 10-year LVMH deal value a reported $1.5 billion, the biggest industrial partnership within the sport’s historical past.
Eight of 11 groups on the 2026 grid carry a luxurious watch companion, with Richard Mille sponsoring each Ferrari and McLaren concurrently.
What began as Jack Heuer inserting a brand on Jo Siffert’s Lotus in 1969 has turned luxurious watchmaking into F1’s dominant sponsorship class, with complete grid spending on watch partnerships now operating into the tons of of tens of millions per season.
How a Handshake in 1969 Constructed a Billion-Greenback Trade
System 1 and luxurious watches share a relationship that traces again greater than 5 a long time to a handshake between a Swiss watch govt and a racing driver from Fribourg. In 1969, Jack Heuer positioned his household firm’s brand on Jo Siffert’s Rob Walker Lotus 49B, creating the primary luxurious model sponsorship in System 1 historical past. That single deal spawned a complete class of motorsport advertising. By 2025, LVMH had dedicated a reported $1.5 billion over ten years to convey TAG Heuer again as the game’s Official Timekeeper, and eight of the eleven groups on the 2026 grid carry a luxurious watch model on their automobiles and their drivers’ wrists.
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The connection between F1 and horology has at all times run deeper than billboard area. Timing all the way down to the thousandth of a second is foundational to the game itself, and the watch trade recognised early on {that a} System 1 automotive supplied one thing no different promoting platform may: a direct, visceral connection between engineering excellence and the product on a buyer’s wrist.
Jack Heuer, Jo Siffert, and the Autavia That Began All the things
Earlier than company sponsorship was commonplace observe in System 1, the automobiles wore the colors of their nationwide racing groups and little else. Jack Heuer modified that in 1969 when he approached Jo Siffert, a Swiss privateer competing with Rob Walker’s staff, with a proposition that had by no means been tried within the sport. Siffert would put on the Heuer defend on his racing swimsuit, show the brand on his Lotus 49B, and sport a reference 1163 Autavia with a white dial powered by the brand-new Calibre 11, broadly thought of the primary automated chronograph motion.
Siffert was such a convincing ambassador that he persuaded a lot of his fellow rivals to put on the identical watch. On the top of the partnership, nearly all of F1 drivers within the paddock wore a Heuer Autavia. The impact on Heuer’s gross sales and model recognition was fast, and it established a template that each luxurious watch model working in F1 right this moment nonetheless follows: connect your product to the quickest, most seen athletes on the planet and let the affiliation do the promoting.
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Heuer’s involvement went past branding. From 1974 by way of the late Seventies, the corporate supplied the precise timing gear for System 1 races. The Heuer Centigraph HL205 quartz timer powered the ACIT (Computerized Automobile Identification Know-how) system, which positioned transponders in every automotive to ship timing correct to a thousandth of a second. This was the final interval wherein the official timekeeper carried out real timing duties fairly than serving as a industrial sponsor.
From Longines to Rolex: How F1 Timekeeping Turned a Billion-Greenback Sponsorship
The position of Official Timekeeper turned a proper industrial place in 1982 when Longines took on the title alongside Italian computing firm Olivetti. Longines held the position for a decade by way of the 1991 season, and whereas the model by no means produced devoted F1 watches, its affiliation with Scuderia Ferrari throughout this era resulted in a number of co-branded timepieces.
TAG Heuer succeeded Longines in 1992 and held the place by way of 2003, overseeing greater than 175 Grands Prix. By this level, Heuer had been acquired by Strategies d’Avant Garde and rebranded as TAG Heuer. The System 1 watch line turned some of the commercially profitable collections within the model’s catalogue, and sure fashions carried “Official Timekeeper of the FIA F1 World Championship” on their casebacks.
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Hublot entered the image in 2010 because the Official Watchmaker of System 1, a task it held till 2012. The model’s King Energy F1 assortment turned a paddock fixture, and Hublot’s promoting marketing campaign that includes Bernie Ecclestone’s bruised face after a mugging, captioned “See what individuals will do for a Hublot,” turned some of the talked-about watch advertisements of the last decade.
Rolex took over as Official Timekeeper and Official Timepiece in 2013, pairing the title with a International Associate designation. Rolex’s method was characteristically understated in comparison with Hublot’s. The model by no means produced any formally co-branded F1 watches, as a substitute counting on pit lane clocks, trackside signage, and longstanding ambassador relationships with figures like three-time champion Sir Jackie Stewart. Rolex remained within the position till the top of the 2024 season.
TAG Heuer Returns: The $1.5 Billion LVMH Deal
On 2 October 2024, System 1 and LVMH introduced a 10-year international partnership starting with the 2025 season. TAG Heuer returned as Official Timekeeper for the primary time since 2003, and the deal prolonged throughout a number of LVMH manufacturers, together with Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy.
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The monetary scale was unprecedented. Fortune reported the settlement at roughly $150 million per 12 months, placing the whole worth at roughly $1.5 billion over the lifetime of the contract. For context, that sum exceeds what most F1 groups spend on automotive growth throughout the identical interval. TAG Heuer additionally turned the primary title sponsor of the Monaco Grand Prix, a race the model has been culturally related to because the Sixties by way of its iconic Monaco chronograph.
The model’s DNA is inextricable from motor racing. The Autavia (a portmanteau of “vehicle” and “aviation”), the Carrera (named after the Carrera Panamericana street race), and the Monaco all draw their identities straight from the monitor. TAG Heuer’s return felt like a homecoming for a model that had by no means really left the game’s cultural DNA.
Each 2026 F1 Crew Watch Partnership
The 2026 season options eleven groups for the primary time in trendy F1 historical past, following Cadillac’s entry as a brand new constructor. Eight of these groups carry a luxurious watch partnership, and the grid’s horological allegiances shifted significantly from 2025.
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Richard Mille holds probably the most outstanding place of any single watch model on the grid by sponsoring each Ferrari and McLaren concurrently. For Ferrari, the collaboration produced the RM UP-01, the thinnest mechanical watch ever made at 1.75mm, priced at $1.88 million and restricted to 150 items. McLaren’s partnership produced a customized RM 67-02 that defending World Champion Lando Norris wears in race-week commitments.
TAG Heuer companions with Oracle Pink Bull Racing, the place Max Verstappen has worn TAG Heuer watches such because the Monaco Skeleton and a gold Carrera Chronograph throughout a number of seasons. The model additionally holds the broader F1 timekeeping contract, giving it visibility at each circuit.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – MAY 24: Third positioned Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Pink Bull Racing within the Drivers Press Convention in the course of the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Could 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photograph by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Photographs)
IWC continues with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS in a partnership that predates Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari. George Russell obtained his first private collaboration piece for 2026, the Pilot’s Watch 41 Chronograph George Russell, in black ceramic with blue accents matching his helmet. Kimi Antonelli, the youngest driver on the grid, wears the staff’s Pilot’s Watch Mark XX.
H. Moser & Cie., the unbiased Swiss model higher recognized in collector circles than mass-market promoting, companions with Alpine. Pierre Gasly’s private involvement with the model produced the Streamliner Tourbillon Pierre Gasly Version in October 2025, obtainable as a Sport-Stylish model restricted to 100 items at $98,500 and a Collector’s Version of simply 10 items at $148,500 in 5N pink gold.
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Tudor sponsors Racing Bulls, offering Black Bay fashions to Liam Lawson and 18-year-old rookie Arvid Lindblad. Lawson’s signature piece is the Black Bay Chrono Pink, matching the pink accent he makes use of on his helmet.
The largest sponsorship change for 2026 concerned Aston Martin, which changed Girard-Perregaux with Breitling. The brand new partnership performs on a shared cultural touchpoint: each a Breitling wristwatch and an Aston Martin DB5 appeared within the James Bond movie Thunderball. Lance Stroll has already been photographed sporting the collaboration Navitimer B01 Chronograph, whereas Fernando Alonso occupies a singular place as a private Richard Mille ambassador who often wears the staff look ahead to official images.
Williams signed Girard-Perregaux as its Official Watch Associate forward of 2026, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon sporting the Laureato in staff shoots. Three groups function with out confirmed watch sponsors for 2026: Audi (previously Kick Sauber), Haas, and Cadillac. The brand new Cadillac staff, that includes Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, entered with out a watch partnership, although each drivers introduced private collections from their earlier groups.Â
What F1 Drivers Really Put on Away From the Grid
Sponsored or not, a number of drivers on the 2026 grid are real watch collectors whose private style extends effectively past their contractual obligations.
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Pierre Gasly has developed a repute as probably the most eclectic watch fanatic within the paddock. Earlier than his present Alpine partnership with H. Moser & Cie., Gasly was photographed sporting Hublot watches in rose gold, a tourbillon-equipped TAG Heuer Carrera, a metal Cartier Santos, and a blue-dialled Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in 41mm. His social media reads extra like a watch fanatic’s rotation than a advertising transient, and his willingness to struggle for his design preferences on the Moser Streamliner Tourbillon collaboration exhibits within the completed product. The chocolate fume dial and heat pink gold case have been Gasly’s selections, not the model’s defaults, and the result’s a real collaboration fairly than a brand train.
Spielberg, Austria. 1st July 2021. Pierre Gasly walks within the Paddock throughout previews forward of the System 1 Grand Prix 2021 of Austria (picture courtesy Deposit Pictures)
Nico Hulkenberg, now at Audi, has the deepest private assortment of any present driver. And not using a staff watch sponsor to limit him, Hulkenberg rotates by way of rose gold Royal Oaks, brightly colored Royal Oak Offshores, Patek Philippe Nautilus fashions, and what seems to be a favorite: a rose gold Rolex Daytona on a black Oysterflex bracelet.Â
Lando Norris bridges the sponsored and private collector worlds greater than most. Whereas his Richard Mille duties hold the RM 72-01 and RM 67-02 on his wrist throughout race weekends, Norris has been noticed sporting a rose gold Rolex Daytona and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Music Version on an orange rubber strap. The strap swap is a telling element. The Offshore comes with a blue strap as commonplace, and switching to papaya orange suggests somebody who treats his watches as private equipment fairly than contractual obligations.
Lewis Hamilton’s horological journey mirrors his profession strikes. His decade-long partnership with IWC produced three important collaboration items: the Ingenieur Chronograph in titanium (2014), the Large Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic and burgundy (2019), and the Portugieser Tourbillon Retrograde Chronograph in platinum with a teal dial (2023), restricted to only 44 items, reflecting his racing quantity.Â
Photograph Eric Alonso / DPPI / Scuderia Ferrari
Since becoming a member of Ferrari and Richard Mille, Hamilton has been seen sporting the RM 43-01 Tourbillon Cut up-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari, a watch that mixes two of haute horology’s most prestigious issues. Earlier than any of those partnerships, Hamilton was photographed sporting a Patek Philippe Nautilus Journey Time Chronograph 5990/1R, suggesting his style runs independently of any model deal.
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Alex Albon at Williams, free from watch sponsor obligations, gravitates towards the Cartier Santos with a inexperienced dial. Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls owns no less than two Rolex Daytonas of his personal alongside the Tudors he wears for staff duties. And Jack Doohan, who raced for Alpine in 2025, most popular a metal Daytona over his team-issued H. Moser.
The Rarest F1 Watches Ever Made
Sure watches created by way of F1 partnerships are so restricted that they are going to possible by no means seem on the secondary market.
Sergio Perez’s TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon is probably the most unique by manufacturing quantity. Solely two examples have been produced in November 2021 to mark the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix. The 45mm titanium case with DLC coating and rose gold accents homes the Heuer 02T tourbillon manufacture motion. One watch went to Perez personally, that includes his initials “SP” on the dial and his motto “By no means Give Up” engraved on the caseback. The second was auctioned for the Checo Perez Basis.
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Fernando Alonso’s Richard Mille RM 47 Tourbillon represents a special sort of rarity. Restricted to 75 items, the watch took almost 4 years to develop and attracts on Alonso’s ardour for Japanese martial arts. Every dial contains a miniature samurai swimsuit of armour hand-carved and painted in 3N yellow gold by artisans Pierre-Alain and Valerie Lozeron. The armour requires 16 hours of engraving and 9 hours of portray per watch, with particulars referencing the Asano clan and the Bushido code. Secondary market costs now exceed $1 million, pushed as a lot by the craftsmanship as by Alonso’s private connection to the piece.
The Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari holds a report of its personal. At simply 1.75mm thick, it turned the thinnest mechanical watch on the planet when it launched in 2022, beating Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Extremely by 5 hundredths of a millimetre. Restricted to 150 items at $1.88 million every, the watch was a technical showcase for the Ferrari x Richard Mille partnership. The RMUP-01 motion inside measures simply 1.18mm, and in contrast to competing ultra-thin designs that use the caseback as a baseplate, Richard Mille assembled the motion inside a standard (if spectacularly skinny) case.
Pierre Gasly’s H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Collector’s Version sits on the rarer finish of the spectrum. Simply 10 items exist, every in 5N pink gold with an identical bracelet and a ruby index at 10 o’clock as a nod to Gasly’s racing quantity. At $148,500, it offered out shortly.
Hamilton’s IWC Portugieser Tourbillon Retrograde Chronograph deserves point out right here too. The platinum case, teal dial, and tourbillon complication already put it in rarefied territory, however the limitation to 44 items, matching Hamilton’s racing quantity, makes it nearly not possible to seek out on the secondary market.
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When F1 Drivers Put on a $260 Watch As an alternative
For all of the six and seven-figure timepieces floating across the paddock, a number of drivers present a counterpoint that humanises the grid.
Throughout the 2025 season, Yuki Tsunoda was recurrently photographed sporting the Pluto variant of the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch, a $260 Bioceramic tribute to the Omega Speedmaster Skilled. Tsunoda’s selection was placing as a result of his Racing Bulls staff had Tudor as its watch sponsor on the time, which means a Black Bay Ceramic was obtainable to him for gratis. He ultimately wore the Tudor for staff occasions, however the MoonSwatch was clearly his private choice for off-duty appearances.Â
Oliver Bearman at Haas confirmed an analogous inclination, splitting his time between a MoonSwatch (the Uranus variant) and his ever-present Whoop health band.
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO – JUNE 04: Oliver Bearman of Nice Britain and Haas F1 indicators autographs throughout previews forward of the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on June 04, 2026 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photograph by Guido De Bortoli/LAT Photographs)
Fernando Alonso presents probably the most high-profile case of a driver quietly resisting his staff’s watch partnership. Regardless of Aston Martin’s relationships with Girard-Perregaux (by way of 2025) and now Breitling, Alonso is a private Richard Mille ambassador and barely wears the rest. Press convention images and official staff shoots often present him within the staff watch, however his default wrist is an RM.Â
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Valtteri Bottas carved out a special area of interest completely throughout his years between the highest groups. Relatively than sporting the mega-brands competing for grid area, Bottas collaborated with Finnish unbiased model Sarpaneva on a number of items, together with the Kilpisjurvi, a restricted version of 17 watches impressed by the Northern Lights and completed with Sarpaneva’s signature luminous therapy. For a extra accessible choice, Bottas and Sarpaneva additionally launched a watch by way of the model’s entry-level arm, S.U.F. Helsinki, known as the Flying Finn.
Daniel Ricciardo not races in F1, however his private assortment surpasses everybody at present on the grid. The Australians’ Patek Philippe rotation features a Grand Issues 5271P, a 5711 Ruby (some of the sought-after Nautilus references ever produced), and an Aquanaut Journey Time 5164R. He additionally owns a fiftieth Anniversary “Jumbo” Royal Oak in yellow gold from Audemars Piguet. Ricciardo’s assortment displays somebody who buys watches as a result of he loves them, not as a result of a contract requires it.
Why Luxurious Manufacturers Pay Billions to Be in System 1
The industrial logic behind F1’s attraction to luxurious watch manufacturers goes past easy brand publicity. System 1’s international viewers skews wealthier, youthful, and extra internationally various than nearly some other sport, making it a pure platform for manufacturers promoting merchandise that begin at a number of thousand {dollars} and may attain into the tens of millions.
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Underneath Liberty Media’s possession, F1’s complete income grew to $3.87 billion in 2025, a 14% enhance 12 months on 12 months. Whole sponsorship funding throughout all groups and the sequence itself is projected to surpass $3 billion in 2026, up from $2.5 billion the earlier 12 months. The Netflix sequence Drive to Survive, which debuted in 2018, performed a big position in increasing the game’s viewers in the US and amongst youthful demographics globally, creating precisely the sort of prosperous, engaged viewer base that luxurious manufacturers goal.
The LVMH deal is the clearest proof of this industrial thesis. At a reported $150 million per 12 months, the partnership includes TAG Heuer, Louis Vuitton (which supplies the trophy instances for podium ceremonies) and Moet Hennessy (which provides champagne for celebrations). The breadth of LVMH manufacturers concerned displays a calculation that F1 isn’t just a watch advertising platform however a life-style showcase for the complete luxurious sector.
For smaller unbiased manufacturers like H. Moser & Cie., the F1 platform provides one thing totally different: mainstream visibility that will be almost not possible to realize by way of conventional promoting. Earlier than Alpine, Moser was recognized primarily to critical collectors. The F1 partnership and the Gasly collaboration put the model in entrance of tens of millions of viewers who may by no means have encountered it in any other case.
Richard Mille’s twin presence at Ferrari and McLaren represents probably the most bold watch model technique on the grid. The model’s common retail value exceeds $200,000, and its F1 involvement reinforces the identical message it communicates by way of partnerships in tennis (Rafael Nadal), golf, and crusing: that Richard Mille produces probably the most technologically superior, light-weight, shock-resistant watches obtainable, examined in probably the most demanding circumstances possible.
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The 2026 season, with its new laws, new groups, and an expanded calendar, will push the industrial worth of those partnerships even increased. For the watch trade, System 1 has change into the one Most worthy advertising platform in luxurious items.
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