SPORT TAG Heuer x Porsche: the union of two icons of performance and design

It was rocky, dusty and dangerous, but Porsche thought it important to participate in the Carrera Panamericana. The event, a 3000 kilometre border-to-border race through the harsh Mexican outback, was one of the toughest tests for both man and machine on the international motorsport calendar. Only run five times between 1950 and 1954, Porsche needed the exposure to the lucrative American market, and what better way to do so than with success on the international motorsport stage. 

Porsche introduced their new purpose-built racer in 1953, the 550 Spyder, and in that year’s Mexican race they finished 32nd overall, winning the 1600 cc class. The following year, the Porsche 550 Spyder, now powered by the new four-camshaft engine, finished third overall behind a pair of Ferraris. This achievement was almost hailed as a victory by the Stuttgart factory, earning the manufacturer’s new four-cam engine the nickname ‘Carrera’, as well seeing the same name appear on several road-legal cars with racing genes, starting with the 356 Carrera and the Carrera 6.

Edouard Heuer established his watch-making business in 1860, but it would be his great grandson Jack, who formed a working relationship with Ferdinand Porsche around one hundred years later. The Heuer Carrera chronograph was introduced in 1963 in the spirit of the ‘Carrera’ (Spanish for ‘race’), which similarly embodied ambition, speed and technical excellence. 

The 1966 race at Le Mans may have belonged to Ford, but it was also an important year for Porsche. Works driver Jo Siffert finished fourth overall in a Porsche 906 LH, taking the Prototype 2.0 class honours that year and the next. Siffert, a Swiss national, would become instrumental in Porsche’s rise to fame on the track, most notably with the mighty 917. However, Siffert was also an astute businessman, cementing a sponsorship deal with Jack Heuer, by agreeing to display the Heuer logo on his race car and race suit. “In addition,” Jack Heuer recalled, “he [Siffert] could buy our watches at wholesale prices and resell them to his racing friends at a substantial profit, which he did with great success because half of the F1 paddock was wearing Heuer watches by the end of the 1969 season!” 

Ever since their debut in 1951, Porsche had been a regular entrant at the endurance race, but overall victory was out of reach for the light and nimble race cars. Ferdinand Piëch, motorsport boss and nephew of Ferry Porsche, was however determined to win the coveted title which he very nearly succeeded in doing in 1969, losing the title to Ford by the narrowest margin in the race’s history, just 120 metres. But the 1970 race would be different, when Hans Herrmann & Richard Attwood claimed victory for the Stuttgart manufacturer in the mighty Porsche 917 KH. The 1970 victory literally opened the floodgates for Porsche, as they went on to take four more wins in that decade alone. 

Jack Heuer was responsible for creating the Heuer Monaco, the first square-faced, water-resistant automatic chronograph watch. Jo Siffert was instrumental in promoting this iconic timepiece which led in turn to Steve McQueen wearing the Heuer logo on his racing suit during the filming of Le Mans in 1970, in which he drove a Porsche 917. The actor said at the time, “I drive the same car as Jo Siffert, and I want to wear the same suit as him.” 

Derek Bell recalled the filming of this movie, “We were filming on track around Maison Blanche, which consists of tricky right and left corners. We would be doing 140-150 miles per hour through there, and on the final shot, as I went through the left corner, I saw the cameraman lying on the dotted white line in the road, with this great big Hollywood camera. Jo Siffert was behind me and trying to pass. Anyway, we went down to the Ford Chicane to turn around, and Jo gets out of the car as white as a sheet. He said, ‘That is ridiculous, I’m not going to do this again. I could have killed that cameraman in the road.’ So Steve comes up on his Husqvarna, stops and swings his leg up on the bike and the director John Sturges said to him, ‘Who gave the cameraman permission to lie in the middle of the track?’ And Steve said, ‘Well I gave him permission,’ and John asked who the cameraman was. He said, ‘It was me!’”

If the 1980s belonged to any single manufacturer, then the 1980s was Porsche’s by a mile with seven consecutive victories, the highest ever in this great race. Four more victories came in the 1990s, but Porsche only returned with a prototype factory team in 2014. Three quick victories between 2015-2017 brought the manufacturer’s tally of wins to 19, followed by Audi (13), Ferrari (10) and Jaguar with seven wins. Porsche is the only manufacturer to have entered cars at Le Mans every year since their debut in 1951, whether by factory or private teams, making it 74 starts.

Thanks to his high profile on the international stage and in motorsport, TAG Heuer appointed actor and racing enthusiast, Patrick Dempsey, as a brand ambassador in 2014. 

In 2019, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team made history in its debut season, setting a milestone in the opening round, when André Lotterer crossed the finish line in second place. The partnership with Porsche was the culmination of many years of collaboration between the two manufacturers.

In a press statement in 2021 by TAG Heuer former CEO, Frédéric Arnault, said that the time was right for his brand’s partnership with Porsche: “TAG Heuer and Porsche have common history and values, but more importantly, we share an attitude. Like Porsche, we are disruptors at heart, always in pursuit of high performance.” It is a collaboration developed over decades on some of the world’s most challenging racetracks and on the wrists of drivers who were the very embodiment of Jack Heuer’s motto, “Time never stops. Why should we?”

From the homage to the fiery acceleration of the Porsche 911, through the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 Porsche Edition that puts watchmaking and innovation in the spotlight, to limited editions that celebrate the shared heritage of motor racing like the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph x Porsche 963, each timepiece bears witness to the relentless quest for precision and avant-garde style of two icons.