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From Senna and McQueen to the faces of Tag Heuer’s new generation

It’s not only a hashtag and a 25-year-gap that separates Tag Heuer’s two “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” campaigns. The company’s industry-leading innovation since the first campaign, which ran from 1991 to 1994, means that the new Carrera Calibre Heuer 01 — skeleton dial, modular steel-and-titanium construction — demonstrates unparalleled precision watchmaking technology in 2016.

Today’s partnership with Red Bull Racing is important, too. It underpins Tag Heuer’s deep-rooted connection to sport, and to motor racing in particular. This link was forged in 1963 with the first-ever watch made for professional racing drivers, the Tag Heuer Carrera. (That’s a Carrera 2000 in the 1991 ad.)

Then came the launch of the Monaco watch, in 1969. Two years later, when Steve McQueen wore his Monaco in the film Le Mans, there was no more desirable watch on the planet. Between the iconic actor and Red Bull Racing, the two greatest drivers in F1 history, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, became Tag Heuer ambassadors.

The Monaco was also a technological marvel, the first square chronograph to be water-resistant, and in 2015, the launch of Tag Heuer Connected rebooted the idea of what a touchscreen smartwatch could be. Not cracking under pressure to innovate, and remaining at watchmaking’s cutting edge, continues to be a cornerstone of the brand’s success.