Why is it rumoured that TAG Heuer will succeed Rolex as Official Timekeeper of the Formula 1 World Championship?
According to some rumours circulating these days, from 2025 TAG Heuer would assume the role of Official Timekeeper of the Formula One World Championship, i.e. official timekeeper of races, with all the technical support that this entails. The rumour began to circulate after the 2024 season, Rolex would end its collaboration with the world's most famous motorsport competition.
The partnership between Rolex and Formula 1 has lasted since 2013 and bears the signature of Gian Riccardo Marini, then CEO of the group. A collaboration that - for the first time in the case of a watch brand - goes far beyond the technical boundaries of timekeeping: the Geneva-based company serves as both Official Timekeeper and Official Watch and even Global Partner. It was the 2013 Australian GP, which opened that year's championship, that saw Rolex's grand debut in F1, also as Title Sponsor of the Grand Prix, with the logo with the crown occupying practically all advertising space on the route. An imposing presence, to which the motoring public has now become accustomed.
TAG Heuer to replace Rolex in Formula 1 from 2025?
It seems that the LVMH Group house might take over from Rolex from next year.
TAG Heuer, for its part, has already fulfilled the role of Official Timekeeper of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1992 to 2003 very well, for 11 consecutive years. The company has also partnered with prestigious racing teams such as Ferrari and McLaren. Today, it is linked to the Red Bull F1 team, in which the Dutchman Max Verstappen, three-time world champion driver (in 2021, 2022 and 2023), plays a part, and Mexican Sergio Pérez.
While TAG Heuer's association with Formula 1 has been very close in the past, the company has opted for other investments in recent years, especially in cinema. It is from the vision of Frédéric Arnault, CEO of TAG Heuer since 2020 and now CEO of the LVMH Watches division (responsible for Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith), that the strategy to return to Formula 1 comes. And to do it in a big way, this time as Global Partner. And so there are those who go so far as to report that the House could invest an annual sum of as much as $150 million. We will see if the rumours are confirmed.
