As of 2025 TAG Heuer is back as the Official Timekeeper of Formula 1. Last summer, when it was initially reported that Rolex was to relinquish its title speculation was rife. Its deal was due to expire on December 8, 2025, ending an arrangement that has been in place since 2011 and is said to cost the luxury brand around AED1 billion a year with the MO to have its logo featured in almost every frame of coverage seen by up to 70 million racing fans worldwide.
Upon the lapsing of the deal another famous Swiss watchmaker, TAG Heuer, was quick to make a move down the inside, so in October 2024, the LVMH brand announced that it had penned a 10-year agreement to become the Global Partner of Formula 1 as of 2025. The deal is estimated to be three times the Rolex money.
By all intents and purposes, this is a very good match. No other watch brand enjoys deeper roots in the sport than TAG Heuer. In the 1960s and 1970s, Heuer chronographs would often be used by racing drivers to measure time and laps with accuracy. The Swiss company went on to develop cutting-edge devices like the Mikrograph (accurate to 1/100th of a second) and the Microtimer (accurate to 1/1,100th of a second), which were used to time motorsports with increasing levels of precision. Iconic Formula 1 drivers including Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna became associated with the brand, which held the Official
Timekeeper position from 1992 to the early 2000s.
In addition, TAG Heuer has sponsored Formula 1 teams, notably McLaren (1985 to 2015) and Red Bull Racing since 2016. Its Formula 1 collection of watches launched in 1986 and is still going strong today. Other watch families include the Carrera, named for the treacherous Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico; the Monaco, a model worn by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film Le Mans; the Autavia, originally a dashboard timer for automobiles and aviation (hence the name) and the Porsche Chronograph.
“TAG Heuer is motorsport,” says the brand’s ebullient heritage director Nicholas Biebuyck. “There are plenty of other watch brands that want to talk about motorsport. In fact, only one can—and that’s us.
“From the birth of the maison back in 1860, timekeeping accuracy has been at the forefront of the brand. Basically, since the dawn of the motor vehicle, we’ve been present. From the first dashboard chronograph in 1911 to the golden period for automobile racing in the 1960s and 1970s, on through McLaren and the partnership with Porsche, all the way up to today. The fact is, we have a multi-decade relationship, a century-plus at this point, connecting us to the discipline.”
CEO of LVMH Watches Frédéric Arnault acknowledges that TAG Heuer deprioritised motorsport — something it has now put into reverse. “There was criticism of it being an
old man’s sport; it had a huge issue to tackle around sustainability,” he has said. “But now the picture is very different.”
Indeed, Formula 1 has enjoyed a surge in popularity among younger generations, thanks to the Netflix show Drive To Survive. “A lot of our investment was going into other sports and entertainment partnerships,” Arnault said. “We decided we would concentrate our investment into motorsports, and particularly Formula 1.”
Watch brands have sponsorship deals in place with every sport under the sun, but there’s a certain authenticity with motor racing that is unmatched.
Now, as it takes the official green light as the Official Timekeeper of Formula 1, TAG Heuer’s line-up for 2025 is expected to be particularly motorsport heavy.