STORIES A Living Archive of Racing Spirit

A unique collection of 4,000 timepieces, alongside helmets, photographs, and even original slides, sits preserved in the TAG Heuer museum, each a fragment of speed and heritage. To step inside is to feel the continuum of motorsport and watchmaking come alive — stories that link champions, engineers, and collectors alike.

In this archive, the spotlight falls on watches that became inseparable from the people who wore them. The Heuer Monaco 1133B, immortalized on Steve McQueen’s wrist in the film Le Mans (1971), an appearance that cemented the watch’s iconic status. Beside it, the Heuer Autavia 1163 recalls Swiss driver Jo Siffert, whose cool charisma made him TAG Heuer’s first ambassador — and whose Autavia earned the nickname “Siffert Autavia.”

There are rarities too, like the TAG Heuer Formula 1 Ukyo Katayama edition from 1992. Its energetic mix of red, yellow, and black mirrored the Larrousse F1 team colors. Produced in small numbers and discontinued when Katayama changed teams, it remains one of the rarest TAG Heuer Formula 1 models today. And then the Heuer Silverstone stands as Clay Regazzoni’s companion, a softer-edged successor to the Monaco that captured the 1970s in bold blue.

These archived pieces are time capsules of racing identity, each one carrying the sweat, triumph, and tragedy of its era.

The stories grow stronger when watches sit beside helmets in the archive. Regazzoni’s Heuer Silverstone appears alongside his red-and-white Swiss cross helmet, conjuring memories of fearless drives in Ferrari red. Siffert’s white-dial Heuer Autavia rests next to his helmet, a reminder of the man who bridged the paddock and the pit lane with style.

Some pairings recall moments of modern racing history. Lewis Hamilton’s Vodafone-branded helmet brings back his maiden victory in 2007, when the young McLaren driver wore a bright orange TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph (Ref. CAH1113). Nearby, Mika Häkkinen’s white and blue helmet shares space with his TAG Heuer 6000 Series Chronograph, the watch he sported during his two world championships. These twin displays embody the human drama of Formula 1®, captured in the helmets and chronographs that once defined the track.

No figure looms larger in TAG Heuer’s legacy than Ayrton Senna. The archives hold not only photographs and slides of the Brazilian legend, but also the watches that defined his partnership with the Maison. By the late 1980s, Senna had adopted the TAG Heuer S/el Chronograph (Ref. S25.706C), a cutting-edge quartz chronograph with its instantly recognizable “double S” bracelet design by Eddy Schöpfer.

Senna wore different S/el versions with champagne or anthracite dials, but always with the same unmistakable authority. He even made the S/el part of a team ritual: after joking with lead mechanic Ron Pellat about swapping watches if he won the 1993 title, Senna handed Pellat his own S/el at season’s end, honoring his word despite not clinching the championship. Few watches are as indelibly tied to a driver as the TAG Heuer S/el Chronograph is to Senna.

Perhaps the most moving pieces in the archive are not watches at all, but original color slides of Ayrton Senna. These intimate portraits — candid moments in the paddock, celebrations on the podium, flashes of concentration before a race — capture the man behind the myth. Seen alongside his watches, they transform into a living testimony of TAG Heuer’s bond with one of racing’s greatest icons.