Going the distance
THE late legendary Ayrton Senna didn’t believe in boundaries defined by others. “Each driver has a limit,” said Senna, one of the most revered Formula 1 champions and drivers. “My limit is a little bit further than others.”
TAG Heuer claims to push the limits too since Jack Heuer did it in 1969 with the square-shaped Monaco watch. The brand and its pioneering luxury chronographs have been associated with motor racing for 150 years.
The latest is a collaboration with one of the youngest racing supremos, Lewis Hamilton, who already knew what he wanted to do and achieve when he was all of 10 years old.
At that age, he approached Mclaren’s Ron Dennis and announced, “I want to race for you one day ... I want to race for Mclaren.” TAG heuer’s latest match up is with racing champ, Lewis hamilton. Three years later, the team signed him up.
Nine years after that, he came in second to Kimi Räikkönen. The next year he became World Champion.
Hamilton is known for his aggressive selfconfidenceconfidence on and off the track, attributes that TAG Heuer thought would fit perfectly with them.
The ideal match up would have been the Formula 1 Series watch. Launched in 1986 and revamped in 2004, it was the favourite watch of stars like Senna, Alain Prost, David Coulthard, Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso.
This year, there are 18 new editions, all co-engineered with the F1 team Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes, and tested by its star drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Three movements are available – chronograph, alarm and watch – all housed in 42mm cases. One of the highlights is the
Chronograph Black and Red Bezel, a quartz movement chronograph with black titanium carbide-coated steel fixed bezel and an eye-catching red aluminium ring. The sleek black dial sports an angled date window at four o’clock and three black chronograph counters with red hands – 1/10th of a second and hour chronograph counter at six o’clock; minutes chronograph counter at nine o’clock; and running second counter at three o’clock.
The push buttons are in black titanium carbide coated steel, as is the famous TAG Heuer “Easy Grip” screw-in crown, which is adorned with a raised, fine-brushed TAG Heuer shield.
The strap is in black rubber with protruded TAG Heuer logo and a fine-brushed steel folding clasp. Water-resistant to 200m, it will be available at TAG Heuer boutiques and retailers worldwide next month for RM6,300.
Then, there’s the Formula 1 Chronograph Steel and Brushed Ceramic. This model has the same counters and date window dis-display, on an anthracite sunray brushed dial. Polished steel finishes on the fixed bezel and “Easy Grip” crown give added lustre.
The large case is in fine-brushed steel.steel. The bezel is in diamond-diamond-diamondtough brushed black ceramic with a silver tachymeter scale. Brushed black ceramic alternates with steel onon the five-row bracelet. It also has a fine-brushed steel doubleble safety clasp and extension system. Water resistant up to 200m, the watch retails at RM7,000.
Next up is the Formula 1 Chronograph Titanium Carbide Coated Edition. Here, the design showcases F1-grade Titanium Carbide coating, an industrial technique widely used in automobile, aviation and aeronautical con-construction.
The high-tech material coats the steel case, fixed bezel and “Easy Grip” crown. The curved and polished hand-applied indexes and numeral 12 are finished with black gold and black luminescent markers.
The minute and hour hands are in polished black gold with black luminescent markers. The circular fine-brushed screw-in case back has a special checked decoration. Available only in September, this retails at RM6,400.