TAG Heuer signs major global partnership with FIA Formula E Championship 16.05.2013: Official images of new fully-electric Formula E car revealed for first time TAG Heuer, the world’s number one manufacturer of luxury timepieces

Official images of new fully-electric Formula E car revealed for first time


TAG Heuer, the world’s number one manufacturer of luxury timepieces inspired by sport, has signed on as Official Timekeeper, Official Watch and Chronograph and Founding Partner of the FIA Formula E Championship.




The agreement was signed at TAG Heuer’s headquarters in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Jean-Christophe Babin, President and CEO of TAG Heuer (on the right), and Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E Holdings.


“Teaming up with Formula E, the world’s top competition for electrically-powered racing cars represents the next logical step for TAG Heuer’s ongoing commitment to motorsports, as it draws on both our racing heritage and our commitment to sustainability,” said Jean-Christophe Babin. “An intense passion for automobiles has fuelled our technical innovation and performance since the earliest days of the brand.


We patented the first dashboard chronograph in 1911, pioneered driver ambassadorship with Jo Siffert in 1969, signed on as the first ‘nontechnical’ partner of a Formula One team with Ferrari in the 70s, and continued that tradition with McLaren and its drivers from 1985 to the present day.


Through these and our other partnerships - Indy 500, Audi Sports at Le Mans and World Endurance Championship and the mythical Monaco Grand Prix among them - we have pushed precision to record-breaking levels.


“TAG Heuer has also been deeply involved in sustainable development for years, with for example solar roofs providing electricity in our Swiss facilities. We have an ongoing partnership with Leonardo DiCaprio and Green Cross international’s ecological initiatives. In 2010, we organised with Tesla the very first ever world tour in a 100% electric GT car and in 2011, we signed on with the Electric Masters Kart in Paris Bercy. So Formula E is a natural fit.”


“Without doubt, TAG Heuer is the perfect partner to the FIA Formula E Championship and we are delighted to have a brand of their prestige, excellence and expertise on board for the inaugural season,” said Alejandro Agag. “TAG Heuer’s time-honoured passion for motorsport dates backs more than 150 years and their quest to push technology to the highest level of performance epitomises the values of our Championship.


As Founding Partner, they will bring us a global communication platform and the best of their services for teams, drivers, media and fans around the world.”



TAG Heuer Professional Timing, the timekeeping division of the renowned Swiss brand, will provide all live timings for the Championship’s inaugural season, which will take place on 10 street circuits worldwide including London, Rome, Los Angeles, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Beijing. TAG Heuer will also be the exclusive watch brand to appear on track signage at all cities around the world.


Stephane Linder, new TAG Heuer CEO as of June 1, added: “TAG Heuer draws inspiration from the technology, design and artistry of professional motor racing to produce the world’s most precise, reliable and thrilling timepieces. Formula E promotes interest and investment in electric vehicles and sustainable motoring.


We look forward to participating in this noble and exciting endeavour, as we share its values: innovation, performance and sustainable development. And, at the core, a deep and abiding love for the world’s fastest sport.”






About FIA Formula E Championship

Formula E is a new FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) championship featuring racing cars powered exclusively by electric energy. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades. The races will be held in the heart of the world’s leading cities, around their main landmarks.


Demonstrations of the first cars will commence in 2013, followed by the first official electric car race in 2014. The plan is for a grid of 10 teams and 20 drivers in 2014. The FIA has expressed its delight with the sport’s shared values of clean energym and sustainability.


Formula E hopes to promote general awareness around sustainability. It also intends to serve as a framework for R&D around the electric vehicle and accelerate general interest in these cars for personal use.



About TAG Heuer

Since 1860 TAG Heuer is the world’s luxury manufacturer of prestigious chronographs and watches inspired by sport. TAG Heuer is the watch brand of reference in the world of motor sports, having built an unrivalled reputation on the core values of motor racing and luxury sports cars: advanced design and materials, high technology and performance movements, ultimate precision and unsurpassed reliability.


TAG Heuer was the first watch brand to develop dashboards chronograph for sports cars, partner with racing drivers, sponsor an F1 team, and master chronometric time to 1/10th, 1/100th, 1/1,000th and 1/10,000th of a second. From the first car dashboard chronograph, the famous Time of Trip launched in 1911, to the revolutionary, belt-driven Monaco V4 of 2009, TAG Heuer has an unrivalled motor racing legacy.


In 1933, it rolled out the Autavia, the first dashboard timekeeper for both automobiles and aviation, and in 1958 the Rally-Master, a double dashboard timer that paired the Master Time 8-day clock and the Monte Carlo 12-hour stopwatch.


Then, following the inaugural launch of the famous TAG Heuer Carrera in 1963, TAG Heuer launched the Monaco, the Monza and the Silverstone, each a tribute to a legendary racetrack.


In 1966, at the beginning of the electronic revolution, the Microtimer became them world’s first miniaturized electronic timing instrument accurate to an extraordinary 1/1,000th of a second. In 1973, the Microsplit 820 was unveiled, the first pocket quartz timing instrument precise to 1/100th of a second.


More recently, TAG Heuer launched the Carrera Mikrograph, Mikrotimer and Mikrogirder, displaying mechanically the 1/100th, 1/1000th and 5/10’000th of a second, a quest for ultimate accuracy inspired by motor racing spirit.


From 1860 to the present, from Scuderia Ferrari in the 70’ to McLaren today, from Indy 500 to Le Mans with Audi Sport, from the Panamericana to the Monaco Grand Prix, from Juan-Manuel Fangio to Jenson Button, from World Rally Championship with Sebastien Ogier to Romain Grosjean in F1… when it comes to true motor-racing lineage, no other brand comes close.




Tom Phillips, FIA Formula E photos