TAG Heuer kicks off 2025 with a major announcement, as the Official Timekeeper of Formula 1. How do you intend to build on this?
The beauty of this partnership is that it writes itself. You have an event that’s broadcast around the world and, within it, the official timekeeping that is embedded in TAG Heuer’s history. These 60 years of active involvement with Formula 1 are part of the collective unconscious. Working from this extremely high level of visibility and natural integration, our job is to share and explain this connection, over the long term, through our different platforms, whether that’s Watches and Wonders, the Grand Prix experiences or editorial content.At the same time, we’re introducing an emotional element that’s evident in the new campaigns. These also highlight the brand’s values, in particular pushing beyond your limits. On the track and in the workshops, customers expect TAG Heuer to push the limits. Formula 1 applies the same recipe for success as watchmaking, building on the union of man and machine. This combination of human values and technology, which both contradict and coincide, is a key to success and we have to express this.
TAG Heuer is also continuing its partnership with Porsche. With fewer activations and collaborative models, what are the main outcomes?
Firstly, irrefutable commercial success. Every limited edition that we release under this partnership sells out. Porsche enthusiasts love this collaboration and these limited editions fuel that passion. This spills over onto the markets where there are some amazing tie-ins between our retailers and car dealers. Shared interests become platforms for natural and spontaneous exchanges, which in turn generate success.
What are your favourite features of the new limited-edition Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche Rallye?
We’re working on this collection as a continuation of what already exists. This implies paying attention to both brands’ DNA and adapting products in ways that respect our individual identities. We’ve referenced a new calibre and transformed the watch so that it retains the Porsche spirit but does more than scratch the surface, instead exploring the partner’s history and finding meaning through creativity. This Carrera Chronosprint is a complete product. It stays anchored in its history while delivering a contemporary design that’s underscored by its size and legibility. It also wears very comfortably on the wrist.
You’re introducing more feminine versions of the Carrera, too. Are you responding to demand or creating it?
The chronograph stands out as the most useful and sought-after modern complication. Chronographs account for most of our production today and have always been our main line of development. When you’re building your personal watch collection, you look for pieces with proven credentials: a tourbillon from Breguet, an annual calendar from Patek Philippe and a chronograph from TAG Heuer. For that reason, it makes sense that we should roll out this major product for women, too. It looks a little bit like candy, with its glassbox design and 39mm diameter, while the curves add a sensual element. This is an elegant and precious watch with the added bonus that it’s a chronograph.
You’ve dialled up the avant-garde haute horlogerie these past few years, such as the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph. How’s that progressing?
Demand is strong but that’s nothing new. The, Mikrogirder and V4 already paved the way in the 2000s,with angles that were highly relevant to the brand, whether that was motor racing or innovation, both of which have forged its DNA. Highly complicated products are a natural consequence of this avant-garde positioning. This takes investment which customers fully understand. Products such as these are a long time in development hence the infrequent launches.
What will be the year’s highlights after Watches and Wonders and what are your expectations for 2025?
We can look ahead to the Monaco Grand Prix, Geneva Watch Days and other fairs such as SIAR and Dubai Watch Week. Fairs are important as a focal point for watchmaking which, as a culture, must be explained. I hope we’ll reach as many people as possible, in the emotional sense, in 2025. We’re engineers but we want to enchant the public. I want all the teams and partners who work for TAG Heuer to feel proud and to deliver the actions and messages that inspire us as well as our customers. I believe we can send out some really good vibes.
On the track and in the workshops, customers expect TAG Heuer to push the limits.
