Motor-racing greats Lewis Hamilton joined Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren Automotive Chairman Ron Dennis, TAG Heuer Honorary Chairman Jack Heuer, TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin and more than 120 international journalists at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) on Wednesday to celebrate TAG Heuer’s 150th anniversary and the 25th year of its winning partnership with McLaren in F1.
Long-time TAG Heuer Ambassador Lewis Hamilton, wearing his 2009 driving suit and helmet, marked the quarter century in style by arriving at the party behind the wheel of a 1986 F1 McLaren race car, once driven by world champion Alain Prost.
Guests at the lavish cocktail and dinner party at the Sir Norman Foster-designed Centre were given a sneak preview of two new TAG Heuer creations and complimentary copies of the just-released TAG Heuer: 150 Years, a beautifully illustrated commemorative book from Editions Assouline.
In over 200 pages, TAG Heuer: 150 Years outlines the watchmaking brand’s unique trajectory from the small, artisanal workshop of Edouard Heuer in the Swiss Jura to world leader in luxury sports watches, chronographs and professional sports timekeeping. The book was presented by Edouard Heuer’s great-grandson, Jack Heuer, TAG Heuer’s Honorary Chairman and one of the watch industry’s most brilliant innovators.
“We are of course proud of our accomplishments but also grateful to have so much to celebrate,” said TAG Heuer CEO and President Jean-Christophe Babin, who opened the festivities with 2008 FIA World Drivers’ Champion and longtime TAG Heuer Brand Ambassador Lewis Hamilton. “A century and a half of pioneering innovation at the avant-garde of Swiss engineering and design, and a quarter-century with McLaren — one of the longest-running sponsorship agreements between a brand and a racing team in the history of Formula One.”
TAG Heuer’s partnership with McLaren, begun in 1985, is one of the most successful in sports, with six FIA World Constructors’ Championship titles and nine FIA World Drivers’ Championship titles to its name. TAG Heuer, an active participant in the McLaren Technology Centre, is also involved in the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren super sportscar projects and timekeeping tests. To date, TAG Heuer and its partners have developed 6 exclusive SLR chronographs, each a stellar work of design and function reflecting the values common to both
the brand and the team: passion, performance and sporting prestige. The high-profile partnership has also helped develop the world’s most sophisticated sports timing technology.
The true stars of the party were the brand’s two latest creations, the SILVERSTONE, a “one-off” re-edition of one of TAG Heuer’s most iconic timepieces, and the CALIBRE 1887, an avant-garde chronograph movement made entirely in-house.
“TAG Heuer: 150 Years, is a wonderful tribute to our brand's history," said Jack Heuer. "And so are these two new timepieces. A stunning reissue of a great icon and a new, all-TAG Heuer movement – I couldn’t dream of two more spectacular birthday presents!”
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