“We’re the one [watch] model that may discuss motorsport so far as we’re involved,” TAG Heuer’s Nicholas Biebuyck tells me. Because the model’s Heritage Director, Biebuyck oversees one of the vital in depth archives in horology. However as we speak, the subject isn’t simply Method 1 or TAG Heuer’s decades-long relationship with motorsport; it’s Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian racing legend, extensively thought to be one of many best drivers of all time, is the topic of the brand new six-episode Netflix miniseries dramatizing his tragically brief life and enduring legacy. For TAG Heuer, Senna isn’t simply an envoy — their partnership is stitched into the material of the model. So when the manufacturing workforce behind “Senna” requested Biebuyck to mortgage them genuine ‘80s items for the present, he was very happy to ship in spades.
“We despatched 28 watches,” Biebuyck says, together with a number of two-tone S/EL Chronograph fashions that have been favored by Senna, for actor Gabriel Leone to put on. The collaboration went even deeper when the workforce revealed a key — fictionalized — plot line within the present centered on Senna’s father gifting him a classic gold chronograph. “They approached us and mentioned, ‘We need to embrace this as a significant plot level. What would you recommend? Perhaps one thing sort of treasured?’” he recalled. Biebuyck, who has sourced watches for blockbusters like “Barbie” and “Ferrari,” landed on a stable gold, pre-Carrera piece from 1955 that resembled a watch Senna’s father could have worn. “There’s numerous stuff that I’ve acquired through the years particularly for these sort of functions,” he defined, referring to the 3500-strong assortment he manages within the firm’s Switzerland headquarters. “So it’s nice to see it in use.”
Ayrton Senna, TAG Heuer
Picture by: TAG Heuer
Ayrton Senna, TAG Heuer
Picture by: TAG Heuer
To coincide with the premiere of the collection final month, TAG Heuer launched a restricted version Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon x Senna timepiece. The late driver’s nieces, Bianca and Lalalli, stay closely concerned within the partnership greater than 30 years after their uncle handed away. “They don’t seem to be simply sitting again and letting us do what we would like. They need to have a seat on the desk and be a part of that dialog — it’s incredible,” Biebuyck tells me. “It is considered one of our most necessary partnerships that we have put collectively.”
Ayrton Senna, TAG Heuer
Picture by: TAG Heuer
Actually, Senna stays TAG Heuer’s longest-running ambassador. The connection started in 1988 when he joined McLaren, a workforce deeply intertwined with the watchmaker. “It was a match made in heaven,” Biebuyck says. “It was the start of the MP4/4 [era] which might go on to change into one of the vital lovely Method 1 automobiles of all time. Senna had this magnetism from the very starting: not solely is he an idol in southern and central America, however he is additionally worshiped in Japan. The extent of expertise and talent that the man had clearly resonated very effectively with TAG on the time [because] it was simply earlier than we launched these very iconic campaigns ‘do not crack underneath strain’ and ‘success is a thoughts recreation.’”
There was additionally a “duality” to Senna, Biebuyck says, highlighting a number of the traits that made him greater than only a sporting hero on monitor. “I used to be fortunate to spend numerous time together with his household this 12 months and on Senna’s different facet [away from the track] he was vastly charitable, he was vastly giving. He was a person of nice conviction, a person of nice religion, and had a extremely robust sense of justice. It’s actually necessary that … if we may also help to share these beliefs, and possibly embrace them a bit extra carefully throughout the enterprise, it helps us do one thing higher total.”
Gabriel Leone as Ayrton Senna
Picture by: Netflix
Because it seems, Senna’s generosity probably prolonged to his wristwear. After I ask Biebuyck if the athlete was identified for making a gift of timepieces, he laughed, “I’m 99.9% positive.” He went on, “We’ve got all these footage of him on his airplane together with his briefcase open, and he is bought like, three watches inside. So I do assume he was simply giving them out, left, proper and middle. He was at all times very eager to current the model in the very best method, and he was actually skilled and devoted to us.”
When Senna headed to Williams in 1993, TAG Heuer broke protocol with the intention to keep its relationship with him. “He was so necessary to us that we determined to do a person direct deal, which is, the truth is, very uncommon on the planet of Method 1 sponsorship, notably for watch manufacturers,” Biebuyck says. The collaboration resulted within the first limited-edition Senna watch, launched posthumously in 1994, after his tragic accident at Imola earlier that 12 months. Since then, TAG Heuer has created 29 watches impressed by the motorsport legend throughout 19 collections, guaranteeing that his legacy lives on not solely within the F1 historical past books, but additionally on the wrists of these seeking to embody the legend’s spirit.
On this article
Emily Selleck
Method 1
Tradition
Be the primary to know and subscribe for real-time information e-mail updates on these matters
Subscribe to information alerts
