F1 is back, with the Australian Grand Prix taking place this weekend. It’s the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 championship and it’s promising to be a exciting year with some competitive racing and the championship wide open. With the new season comes a new Official Timekeeper after 10 years of the Rolex partnership, with Tag Heuer returning. Tag Heuer also becomes the first ever title partner of the Monaco Grand Prix and the Official Partner and Timekeeper of F1 Academy.
LVMH, Tag Heuer’s parent company, starts a ten year partnership which will see several of its brands promoted including Moët & Chandon as the official champagne. This also means that the green Rolex hoardings and race clocks will be replaced with Tag Heuer ones. These have a retro feel, with the main clocks showcasing a vintage Formula 1 Series 1 dial and the paddock clocks showing a Monaco square dial, as worn by Steve McQueen in the Le Mans movie.
To mark the occassion, a new version of the Formula 1 chronograph has been released. The original first came out in 1986 as a relatively affordable plastic watch. The new version is made of grade 2 titanium with some versions featuring black DLC coating for a rugged sporty look. It is significantly larger than the original 28 or 34 mm watches, clocking in at a hefty 44 mm which is even larger than the previous 43 mm versions. Inside there is a Calibre 16 automatic chronograph movement. It features 200m water resistance, Super-LumiNova® on the hands and indexes, and of course a tachymeter bezel. The pushers are wide for easy operation and it has a screw down crown.
It comes in 4 versions: a red accented black case with red rubber strap, red accented titanium case with black rubber strap, an all black version with blue accents and a special edition Red Bull Racing to commerate their partnership.
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