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The exotic world of fast cars has been inextricably bound with the world of luxury timepieces almost since their respective inceptions just about a century ago. These two mechanical worlds share the same unrivaled passion for extremes, quest for precision and drive for excellence – all resulting in a natural collaboration of time, speed and craftsmanship.
It all began around the turn of the 20th century. In 1911, at just around the same time Louis Chevrolet (born in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, as the son of a watchmaker) migrated to America and co-founded Chevrolet, the very first wristwatches were coming into serial production. Within just a short decade, Louis Chevrolet would sell his stakes in his legendary company and go on to compete in Indy 500 challenges to satiate his passion for the fast-paced, high-tech world of auto racing. Vying to perfect the world of racing automobiles, Chevrolet continued to compete, but also went on to found another company to design and produce racing cars.
Because racing is all about timing, it made sense that the cutting-edge watch brands of the time would want to immerse themselves in this arena. Indeed, the allure of motor sports and its pace, its technology, materials and mechanical endurance would lure the finest watch companies in the world. Aligning themselves with the competitive sport early on, were brands such as TAG Heuer, whose owner, Jack Heuer was so immensely taken by the Carrera Pan-American rallies and the Monaco race circuits in the 1950s that he later created watches inspired by those races. In fact, in 1970, the legendary Steve McQueen wore the Monaco in the movie Lemans – making it forever famous.
Similarly, Rolex also became so involved in the late 1950s with racing at the Daytona International Speedway that it eventually created a watch named for the track. Today the Daytona is an icon in the watchmaking annals. Other brands such as Omega, Breitling and Chopard hit the blacktop in the 1970s, ‘80s and 90s and so were among the first to roar onto the racing scene.
Over the past couple of decades, though, the number of watch brands that sponsor races, drivers, or cars, or that have created watches named for drivers, tracks, cars or races has grown to incredible proportions. Many of the world’s finest watch brands are intimately involved in auto racing in some way, with many more incorporating auto-inspired details into certain watch collections.
“The wristwatches that time these races to hundredths of a second must always be as cutting edge as the autos themselves,” says Ali Soltani of Ritmo Mundo, which creates IndyCar timepieces. “The benefits of aligning ourselves with this sport are many, ranging from mechanics, to precision, dynamic design and technical excellence.”
While none of the watch brands disclose the amount of money they invest in to this fast-paced world, the educated enthusiast recognizes that number must be staggering – depending on the involvement in auto racing by the brand. Simply the concept and creation of these specialized watches requires significant time and money.
Automotive-inspired watches are high-performance pieces that adhere to the strictest standards of excellence and typically are crafted of the finest materials including high-tech carbon fiber, steel and titanium. Indeed, for this sport, watch brands go to great lengths to secure the ultimate relationship: becoming official timers, sponsoring teams, races, drivers or partnering with automobile brands to create legendary watches for Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and the like.
Creative License
Some watch brands have firmly aligned themselves with top-speed world-renowned auto brands, among them: Breitling with Bentley; Bulgari with Maserati; Parmigiani with Bugatti; Jaeger-LeCoultre with Aston Martin; Hublot with Ferrari; David Yurman with Shelby.
These companies recreate the automotive mystique in timepieces that recall interior and exterior features of the cars with masterful excellence. Breitling has been a partner with Bentley Motors since 2003 and has created exclusive timepieces, as well as in-car dashboard clocks ever since. The luxurious timepieces and clocks are sold to the general public, and can be custom ordered by Bentley owners in some cases to include veneer dials to match interiors and leather straps to match interiors. Some Bentley by Breitling watches retail for well over $100,000. Similarly Jaeger-LeCoultre struck up a collaboration several years ago with British luxury car maker Aston Martin and has been creating the cutting edge Amvox series of watches ever since.
The Parmigiani Fleurier and Bugatti names came together in 2001 when the brands defied the laws of mechanics in their respective domains and set unique challenges. The results: The fastest car and the first transverse watch movement. After four years of intense research in the Parmigiani manufacture, the first prototype of the Bugatti watch with the positioning of its five main plates on a horizontal axis, offered a completely unhindered view of its bridges and train wheels. F.A. Porsche, the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the Porsche automobile company of Germany, started his own watch company several decades ago. Today the Porsche Design timepieces are built by Eterna.
More recent auto/watch collaborations come from Bulgari, which signed a contract with Maserati and now unveils the 45mm steel OCTO Maserati. It houses a manufacture automatic winding movement with jump hours, retrograde minute and date, and chronograph with retrograde hours and minute counters. Similarly, American design firm David Yurman just unveiled its new Revolution™ Shelby 1000 ($8,600) automatic chronograph is crafted in black PVD with rubber side insets that pays homage to Carroll Shelby and the car that is his namesake. It features a galvanic multi-layer dial with vertical racing stripes and applied Shelby Cobra insignia.
Fast Forward
Many brands find that sponsoring races and vintage car rallies are more in tune with their strategies. Those who have taken to the vintage automotive field include Frederique Constant (as Official timekeeper of the Peking to Paris Motor challenge), Cuervo y Sobrinos (with the Cuervo y Sobrinos Summer Classic Car Marathon initiated this past summer as a race through the Italian Alps and one of the ten ACI-CSAI 2012 Great Events) and Chopard, which
has had a long relationship with the Mille Miglia. Originally staged from 1927 to 1957, the Mille Miglia rally covers one thousand miles of land throughout Italy. Since 1988, Chopard has been a main sponsor of the event. The brand creates a special limited edition Chopard Mille Miglia timepiece annually. Additionally, Chopard continues to create classic racing-inspired models in its exceptional L.U.C collections and most recently the brand unveiled the Alfa Romeo Anniversary watch collection, as both companies celebrate their 150th anniversaries.
Other brands prefer a more fast-paced circuit and sponsor IndyCar races, Formula 1 and a host of Grand Prix events. Among them: TAG Heuer, official partner of the Monaco Grand Prix; Rolex, sponsor of the Rolex Daytona 500 race; Blancpain, intimately involved with Lamborghini racing and the Super Trofeo in particular. Hublot – creator of the Ferrari watch – also has a series of King Power F1 racing watches. Rebellion, an exceptional highbred with a timepiece that claims a power reserve of more than 1,000 hours, has initiated the Rebellion Racing team at Lemans.
Many brands affiliate themselves with some of the globe’s most magnificent race car drivers in an endeavor to demonstrate their connection with speed, excellence and top-performance.
Marvin Watch Company works with Sebastien Loeb, French rally driver; F.P. Journe created the Octa Sport Indy 500 watch in honor of driver Jean Alesi’s participation in the Indy 500.
Richard Mille built the RM 011 Felipe Massa Flyback Chronograph Carbon watch to celebrate the return of the Massa and Formula 1 Grand Prix to a US track. Ritmo Mundo has an entire Indy Car series, which is the watch of choice for race car driver Helio Castroneves. IndyCar Series Champion and Indianapolis 500 driver, Dario Franchitti, is an ambassador for TW Steel and worked with the brand for the creation of the TW Steel Dario Frinchitti Edition watch and
Citizen’s Eco-Drive Men's Perpetual Calendar Chronograph ($525) is worn by professional racer (and Citizen brand ambassador), Matt Kenseth, who won the Daytona 500 for a second time in 2012. Darryl O’Young, the first-ever Double Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Class A Champion is on board as the Oris watch brand ambassador and has created a special timepiece with the brand. Tissot is the Official Timekeeper for NASCAR and works with its ambassadress, Danica Patrick to create a Tissot T-Touch watch.
Sidelines
What’s even more incredible than this exhaustive list of allegiances is the fact that it doesn’t even take into account brands such as Audemars Piguet, which has a superb Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix collection, Cartier, that has been producing the bold Roadster series inspired by the classic roadsters of the 1950s and 1960s for years, BRM, whose entire watch collection is built around this exciting realm, or others that are inspired by the world of vroom vroom. Indeed, the list goes on and on, but suffice it to say that where there are watch lovers there are car lovers and vice versa.
Consider these thoughts in time and mechanics:
· As a teenager, in the 1880’s, Henry Ford worked nights cleaning and fixing watches for a Detroit jeweler for 50 cents a night. It is said he considered going into the watch business.
· In 1927, James Ward Packard, founder of the famed Packard Motor Car Co. and one of the wealthiest men of his time, bought his first Patek Philippe watch for $16,000 as part of his collection. For six years, it was known as the most complicated watch in the world, with 13 complications including a disk that shows the position of the stars as seen from his Ohio home. He went on to amass one of the greatest collections of complex watches.
· In 1994, the Swatch Group, then known as SMH, joined with Daimler-Benz (now Daimler-Chrysler) to form a joint venture to develop a tiny min-car for city driving, later to be called the Smart car (nicknamed at the time the Swatchmobile). It was introduced in 1998, and the Swatch Group sold its share in the venture to Daimler-Benz that year.
· The next evolution is certainly right around the next bend.