1985 – A lasting partnership of like minds The McLaren name is a legend, renowned for fielding some of the greatest drivers and the most advanced cars ever. For over 26 years, TAG Heuer and McLaren have been official partners, working together to push the boundaries of Formula 1. Their joint track record is spectacular. Since they joined forces in 1985, TAG Heuer has provided McLaren drivers with cutting-edge timekeeping technology for their test sessions. So, it is no coincidence that TAG Heuer and McLaren have notched up over 120 Grand Prix wins, and been victorious in the World Drivers’ Championship nine times. All the winning drivers have earned a place in the F1 Hall of Fame: Senna, Prost, Häkkinen, Hamilton. All of them have been TAG Heuer brand ambassadors. It takes a very special partnership to last so long. So what binds two such dynamic companies as TAG Heuer and McLaren together in this enduring meeting of minds? Shared values: a common belief in innovation, performance and prestige... The shared need ‘to be the best at everything they do’.
1992 - Mastering time Mastering time is TAG Heuer’s business. It always has been. It always will be. Almost a century ago they broke the 1/100th of a second barrier. Today they are the only masters of timing 1/100ths, 1/1,000ths, and 1/10,000ths for motor racing. TAG Heuer’s pioneering precision has put them at the forefront of Formula 1 since the very beginning. It has made TAG Heuer the official timekeeper on the most prestigious circuits for the world’s top-performing teams. For eleven consecutive seasons from 1992 TAG Heuer was official timekeeper for the F1 World Championships. The advanced technology that won them that role is on a staggering scale.
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We’ll let the figures speak for themselves: 18 tons of equipment; 20 kilometers of wiring; 19 antennas embedded in the track; 20 technicians monitoring 20 cars simultaneously through 150 on-site monitors. And those pioneering techniques made sure that in over 175 Grand Prix races not a single time was contested or corrected. Equally impressive is TAG Heuer’s mastery of the most challenging number in sports timing: the 1/10,000th of a second demanded by the Indy Racing League for the Indy 500 race. They were official timekeepers of the race from 2004 to 2006, and are still the ‘Official Watch of Indy 500’. TAG Heuer’s state-of-the-art timekeeping gave them a still unbeaten world record— for the closest finish in the whole of motor racing history. It happened in France, in the 2006 Race of Champions, a highlight of the season, when top drivers from different racing categories go head to head. A mind-boggling 2/10,000ths—0.0002— of a second separated winner Mattias Ekström from Heikki Kovalainen.That minuscule fraction of time represents an astonishing 10 millimeters between cars travelling at over 220 mph. When it comes to ultra-precision timekeeping, no other watch brand can overtake TAG Heuer.
2010 - A journey into the future of GT Right from the starting line, TAG Heuer has kept level with every breakthrough in automobile speed, precision and design. TAG Heuer has invented timing technology for the most advanced GT cars. Today, TAG Heuer works with the makers of the world’s most glamorous and forward-looking sports cars, from the Audi R8 to the McLaren MP4-12C. The pundits say the future is electric, and TAG Heuer is backing the future again. They are partners with GT producers Tesla, the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are already revolutionizing GT technology and creating the cars of tomorrow.