LAP TIMES
YOU don’t have to be a petrol head to like watches, but it helps. Thanks to shared interests in cutting-edge technology, compelling design, glamorous exclusivity and the importance of time, watch companies produce a multitude of pieces inspired by the beauty of fast cars and the speed and drama of the racetrack.
Which is why I found myself being hurled at colossal speed around the hairpin corners of the Mugello Circuit in Italy late last year. At an event to unveil a partnership between Hublot and Ferrari, I rode passenger in a Ferrari 458 Italia which, souped-up for the race track, had all the easy-going serenity of a ballistic missile. If the micro-parts of a mechanical watch can withstand these kind of juddering, screaming G-forces, they’ll withstand pretty much anything.
“Until you actually drive a modern racing car it is hard to comprehend how violent the environment inside is, and this in my opinion is a fantastic way to really test the watches in real time,” says Stefan Johansson, the former Formula 1 ace. Like many racing drivers Johansson became a collector of watches – I’m told that among F1 drivers their inbuilt competitiveness naturally spills over from the track into competing over watch acquisitions. But Johansson took things several stages further by deciding to set up as a watch producer himself. His cool, ultra-tough chronographs can be bought through his website StefanJohansson.com (or from WestTime, Los Angeles’s famous watch boutique, if you happen to be passing through).
“There’s a natural connection between these worlds,” says Johansson. “Young boys like mechanical things, and that can take you into cars or watches. The older you grow you appreciate nice things, and you can’t have enough of a good thing. If you get the car, you need the watch as well.”
ULTIMATE BOY’S TOY
In other words, as one CEO of a watch company told me this week, the only difference between little boys and grown men is the cost of their toys. For racing fans, the ultimate boy’s toy must be one of the watches produced by high-end maverick Richard Mille carrying F1 driver Felipe Massa’s. Ultra-lightweight, fantastically strong and stupendously complicated, they incorporate futuristic materials like carbon nanofiber, and they’re tested by Massa in the cockpit of his Ferrari.
Speaking of which, the Hublot announcement. The fashionable brand will be producing low-volume limited edition pieces aimed at those wealthy enough to buy the Italian supercars (you won’t see them in Ferrari airport duty free concessions any time soon, put it that way). The first, launched earlier this year, uses Hublot’s new alloy, Magic Gold – a substance combining gold with ceramic to make it exceptionally hard and scratch resistant.
The wristwatch took over from the pocket watch just as the motor sports industry was taking off, and they’ve grown together. Back in the 1920s, for instance, Jaeger-LeCoultre used to create dashboard instruments for the likes of Aston Martin. Today it produces its suave Amvox watches for the venerable marque – Clive Owen is a collector of Amvox pieces, by the way.
JACK HEUER
The watch brand with by far the most celebrated association with motor sports is TAG Heuer. Back in the 1960s Jack Heuer used to mix with the world’s most famous, glamorous drivers, and named the brand’s most famous watch, the Carrera, after the great Mexican road race of the same name. For many years Heuer were the official timers of Formula 1 racing, and its watches are worn to this day by McClaren superstars Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. This year it brought out one of its most dashing pieces in years – a retro-infused Carrera celebrating Jack Heuer’s 80th birthday (pictured far left), which will be unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this June.
The Carrera Panamerica is not the only race to have given its name to a line of watches. Italy’s glamorous Mille Miglia race has inspired a vast number of Chopard’s stupendous sporting chronographs – Chopard CEO Karl-Friedrich Scheufele actually drives in the Mille Miglia himself. Likewise Marc Hayek, who runs Blancpain, is a regular participant in the Blancpain Endurance Series supercar races. Blancpain has a particular relationship with Lamborghini, also sponsoring its glitzy SuperTrofeo race series.
1. Chopard, Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono Speed Silver, £6,000. www.chopard.com
2. Hublot, Big Bang Magic Gold, price on application. www.hublot.com
3. Stefan Johansson, Mark VIII Carbon Fiber, $15,000, www.stefanjohansson.com
4. Bulgari, Octo Maserati. £20,300
www.bulgari.com
5. Parmigiani, Bugatti SuperSport, price on application. www.parmgiani.ch
6. Omega Speedmaster Racing, price to be confirmed. www.omegawatches.com
7. Richard Mille, RM 050 Tourbillon split seconds chronograph Felipe Massa, price on application. www.richardmille.com
8. Blancpain, L-Evolution flyback chronograph Super Trofeo. £14,860 www.blancpain.com