IWC - Pilot's Chronograph AMG Edition

 pilot

/ˈpʌɪlət/

Noun

• A person who operates the flying controls of an aircraft.

By this definition, one would think that a pilot’s watch means a watch for the person who operates or flies an aircraft. Of course, by the same definition, a diver’s watch should be for someone who “dives”. 

However, as we all know, watches designed for a specific purpose or style no longer applies to the wearer these days. Therefore, one could say that the design philosophy could also be freed up, and no longer bound by the name of the watch. What am I getting at you ask?

Let’s have a look at the just-launched IWC Pilot’s Chronograph AMG edition. It is the first IWC Pilot’s Watch to be produced in titanium, and features racing-inspired styling cues such as the carbon fibre dial, the carbon fibre look strap and of course, the lightweight titanium case. This is not the first AMG collaboration. The very first IWC AMG watch was based on the Ingenieur (German for engineer) and it was also in titanium, with an in-house time only version as well as ETA 7750 based chronograph.

If you ask me, the Ingenieur collection is a much better fit to AMG - because their whole rasion d’être is about improving the engine and performance of Mercedes-Benz cars, and each engine is built by a single engineer whose signature is on the engine cover. So why is the latest collab a Pilot’s Watch?

Personally I think it was a mistake to have moved the design of the Ingenieur away from the Genta-esque to the vintage '50s look, especially given how popular the “non-round sports watch with integrated bracelet” theme is these days. It’s almost as if they had no choice but to stick it on the Pilot’s Watch as 1) it’s a best selling range for IWC and 2) they won’t sell any if they based it on the current Ingenieur (Yes I know they did one for the 50th anniversary of AMG back in 2017) plus 3) the vintage style isn’t a great fit for AMG with its modern, high performance values (and I stand by my opinion on this).

To be honest AMG feels like they’ve sold out and gone a little too commercial as well. Don’t get me wrong, an AMG C63 is still at the top of my car shopping list and the AMG GT is firmly in the “grail” segment but like IWC they’re sticking pretty much the same engine in everything from A class to X class (yes I know it doesn’t exist but I’m sure they would’ve if they could’ve). So in that sense there is some sort of commonality in rationale.

Back to the watch - it’s a conservative and safe approach. It’s a known quantity, has broad appeal, and almost guaranteed success. But is it appropriate? I’ll direct that question to those who wear a diver’s watch matched to a suit, where the only action the watch sees is the water from the running tap…

(Before someone points out to me that in French, a “pilote” also means driver, as in a car/racing car driver, and therefore in this sense the pilot watch works. You try explaining that to the general public, and why a German-speaking brand would use the French definition, and also Zenith tried this with their pilots range before with a forced motorbike connection. It really doesn’t work…) 

So IWC, if you’re reading this, can you please bring back the Genta style Ingenieur?

2020 Green Dial Watches Part 2: Top 10 With Complications

To continue our look at green watches launched in 2020, part 2 focuses on watches with complications.

1. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore

This year we have yet another variation of the extremely successful Offshore range, in black 44mm ceramic case and bezel, and powered by the in-house Calibre 3126/3840 with 59 jewels, 21,600 vph and a power reserve of 50 hours. 

2. Breitling Chronomat

The Chronomat played an important part in Breitling's history. Introduced in 1984, when the world was still reeling from the quartz crisis, it was launched as a bold mechanical watch that would become an icon of its era. The new version recalls all the classic styling cues from the 1980s and features the in-house B01 calibre, with 70 hours power reserve and COSC-certified.

3. Bvlgari Octo Roma Tourbillon Sapphire Malachite Watch

This is a stunning watch with Malachite used not just for the indices but also in the middle case. Paired to a green strap I think overall, it qualifies for the green watch theme. A classy case with a restrained skeletonisation, coupled with baguette cut diamonds set in the bezel and lugs, it’s high jewellery without being blingy, and with an in-house tourbillon to boot, it has the brains to go with the beauty. 44mm platinum case is no lightweight either. Limited to just 30 pieces. 

4. Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar Forest Green

This is a classic that we all know, but with a gorgeous green dial to be in fashion. 40mm stainless steel case with the dial retaining its original display guided by the Golden Ratio. Powered by the in-house Calibre 90-02, an automatic movement with an off-centred rotor, following the shape of the typically German 3/4 plate. 

5. Grand Seiko "Toge" Special Edition

This new model takes inspiration from the Japanese and British legacies of the two respective companies, combining classic British Racing Green with the fine texture of Grand Seiko's signature Mount Iwate dial. The term 峠 (Tōgè), or mountain pass, refers to a navigable route through a mountain range, and this special edition timepiece subtly evokes the image of a spirited drive over the many ridges of Mount Iwate in Northern Japan. Movement is the Japanese automatic Grand Seiko in-house Calibre 9S66 with a power reserve of 3 days.  

6. Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Saxem 

Ok not quite a green dial per se, but the whole damn watch is about as green as they come! SAXEM stands for Sapphire Aluminium oXide and rare Earth Mineral and is, as the names indicates, an alloy that is the mixture of aluminium oxide (the building block of synthetic sapphire) with rare earth minerals such as thulium, holmium and chromium. Powered by the legendary Zenith El Primero movement, it is limited to 100 pieces. 

7. IWC Portugieser Chronograph

This is the Classic Portugieser chrono, with in-house movement and a very much on-trend for 2020 green dial. 41mm stainless steel case, power reserve of 46 hours.

8a. H. Moser X MB&F Endeavour Cylindical Tourbillon
 
H. Moser & Cie. has borrowed from MB&F the concept of three-dimensional movements, protected by a sapphire dome and featuring a one-minute flying tourbillon that rises above the main dial through a ventricular opening appearing at 12 o'clock. H. Moser & Cie. has equipped its tourbillon with a cylindrical balance spring, invented in the 18th century, it is reminiscent of a worm- or corkscrew, rising perpendicularly around the upper rod of the balance staff. Commonly used in historical marine chronometers at the time, it offers the advantage of developing concentrically, and therefore geometrically, since it works perfectly along the axis of its pivots. This gives it a significant advantage over the flat balance spring, whose opposite ends tend to exert forces on the pivots, despite the Philips or Breguet terminal curves which were specifically developed to partially correct the non-concentric opening of the balance spring. Fitted with a Breguet overcoil at both attachment points, the cylindrical balance spring reduces pivot friction and greatly improves isochronism. Due to its specific shape, the cylindrical balance spring is far more difficult to produce and takes ten times longer to make than a traditional balance spring. Limited to 15 pieces each colour. 

8b. MB&F x H. Moser LM101 

The Legacy Machine 101 distils the very quintessence of mechanical watchmaking: the balance wheel, the power reserve and the passing of time. MB&F has chosen to remove its logo and return to its roots and the origins of horology, when only the movements were signed. The fumé dials are borrowed from H. Moser & Cie. Topped with a domed sapphire crystal, the case is made of steel, for only the third time in the history of MB&F. Limited to 15 pieces each colour.

9. Ressence Type 1 Slim X

The new Type 1 Slim X is a limited-edition piece marking its 10th anniversary. Ressence continues to change the way and the why we experience watches by introducing the first piece of their X collection. 

Visually Ressence created a dedicated symbol for the collection that is the fusion of an X, or ten in Latin, and an hourglass. It sits proudly on the hour disc of the Type 1 Slim X. Each of the four watches of the Collection X is limited to 40 pieces and shares the main dark olive-green color. 42mm case in titanium, powered by Ressence patented calibre ROCS 1 - Ressence Orbital Convex System with a  power reserve of 36 hours. 

10. Tag Heuer Carrera Heuer 02

Hey look I really like this. I don’t know why there is always this hate for Tag Heuer watches and it always seems to be universally poo-pooed by “collectors”. This latest version of the Carrera is powered by the in-house Heuer 02 movement and to me, a much classier look which straddles modernity and timelessness quite nicely. I think This will age well compared to the skeletonised versions. But YMMV. it’s a nice shade of green and with the steel bezel, it works really well. Now if they’ll just refocus their marketing strategy...

When Worlds Collide - Hot Wheels IWC Racing Team Transport feat. IWC Ingenieur

When worlds collide 

Collabs are nothing new. Fashion. Music. We can all rattle off at least half a dozen car/watch collabs. This was certainly not something I’d expect to happen at all and it was quite the nice surprise when I first knew of its existence. 

Is it an obscure collab? Perhaps. But cars and watches do go together and it’s kinda only logical for that to extend to model cars, and by virtue of association, toy cars. You might think of Hot Wheels as toys. And yes, primarily they are toys for kids. But they are also collectable for... those who are kids at heart. 

So how did this collab come about? It helped that IWC has a historical racing team, featuring none other than the famed Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gull Wing. It also helped that Chris Grainger just happened to be a Hot Wheels collector, and you can see his collection in an interview he did with Lamley Group. Of course, having one of the Hot Wheels designers being a watch enthusiast sealed the deal. I don’t think there would be that much crossover between Hot Wheels collectors and watch enthusiasts, but I just happen to be one of them. 

Knowing about this and actually finding it in stores are two completely different things. If anyone from Hot Wheels/Mattel Australia is reading this: fix it!! 

The lack of consistent distribution in Australia makes collecting and tracking down certain highly sought after models a real pain in the backside. (Yes. Highly sought after. Don’t get me started. Oh ok you did.) At the moment, in Australia, certain Japanese cars are all the rage. To give you an example, the Nissan 300ZX. This, I have never seen at retail, apart from the most recent police livery which isn't as popular. 

I don’t have the time to do the rounds every single day and even then you’re never really sure if 1) the stores actually received allocation of certain boxes and 2) whether the staff at said store actually displayed ALL the cars from a case rather than keeping then and buying it themselves and scalp online to supplement their income and 3) let's say all the cars are displayed on the pegs, you’d have to be at the right store at the right time and hope and pray that it hasn’t already been cleaned out by professional collectors/scalpers. 

I’ve seen this in action personally where during one of my rare rounds of all the stores that stock them, I’d see the same 1 or 2 people doing the exact same route. And all of us leaving empty handed became we were all too slow. Or just didn’t have the right “connects”. And then you have the overstock of certain cases, where the pegs would be overflowing with the same few cars and they stay on the pegs forever because anyone that wanted one, or 10, already have them, but if these stay on the pegs the stores aren’t going to refill them with something new.

But that’s a long rant way off on a somewhat related tangent. Back to the model at hand. 

When I saw this I felt like I’d won the lottery. Yes it is exactly like that. It’s not an empty metaphor. I’ve seen and bought others from the set, but this particular model was a rare sight indeed. well, to be fair, any real world sighting of team transport is hard to come by. But I guess the monster trucks are the best seller, considering how much stock and variations are stocked everywhere...

So how much do I like this set? So much so that i resorted to forking out ebay tax for another one. Why you ask? Because it’s the nerdy collector in me. Must be mint in box. Or at the very least, to have one to open and play/display, and another in box to keep.

Look, I think for the majority of Hot Wheels collectors, this collab might not mean much to them. You get a nice 300SL and the truck is a brand new casting. The colour scheme is well done and it is overall a fairly nice model at the price point. I doubt many of these will go to kids as toys. For me, it’s one of those rare items where it appeals to a couple of my hobbies. 

I have decided to pair the model with an IWC Ingenieur in the photo shoot. No this isn’t current anymore, but i felt this was the best iteration and style for the Ingenieur. It also should be the feature range of the watch for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team (and it was, in the first couple of years of the partnership), given Ingenieur = Engineer, and yes I get that ”pilot” in French also applies to the f1 drivers, but it’s a bit of a stretch...

Is this a review on the model? Nope. Just sharing my thoughts about an improbable collaboration between Hot Wheels and IWC Schaffhausen. I would love to see more coming from this pairing. The models aren't bad at all, especially considering the retail price it is set at, and it's likely my favourite Team Transport so far.

The Definitive Guide to Watches in Formula 1: 2020 Edition

Formula 1 for 2020 is back on! And what a start to the season with an excitement and drama-filled first race of the season in Austria! So we thought it was time we updated our feature on watches in Formula 1. Can you believe the last time we did a post on this topic it was back in 2013! Certainly a lot has changed since then, so without further ado, it's LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO!!!

Rolex - The official timing partner for Formula 1 since 2013, and continues to dominate all the track landscapes with the corporate green and gold logo. 

Pirelli - The official supplier of tyres for all the teams. Pirelli has a partnership with Roger Dubuis, and there are models specifically made in collaboration where the strap is made from actual tyres of race winning cars.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Pirelli

And now, in order of the current Constructor's Championship standing so far in 2020 (after the first race), here are the watch partners for each team:

1. Mercedes - IWC has been a partner with Mercedes-AMG team since 2013 and it seems to be a very successful partnership as they continue into 2020 and possibly beyond. Numerous limited editions has been produced for both the teams and the drivers, with Lewis Hamilton taking the additional step in customising his own version. IWC watches can also be seen on numerous top management in the team including Toto Wolfe and various engineers/team members.

IWC limited edition Pilot watches for Mercedes-AMG

2. McLaren Renault - It's so refreshing to see McLaren so high up in the standings after many years languishing mid-pack. Let's hope this new trend continues. The official watch partner is Richard Mille, who himself is a fan of racing and races classic cars himself. Amazingly Richard has cornered the market, partnering up with three teams on the grid. The partnership with McLaren extends to drivers in the team both wearing Richard Mille timepieces.

The RM50-03 - valued at just under USD$1 million

3. Ferrari has a long standing partnership with Hublot and again, it is one that is working extremely well for both parties, as Ferrari owners are very much Hublot owners. Numerous limited editions produced, as well as watches designed by Ferrari like the Hublot TechFrame.

4. Racing Point BWT Mercedes - Formerly Force India, we have mentioned before regarding their partnership with TW Steel. This was followed by an obscure "lifestyle" partnership with Felio Siby, who designed an even more obscure watch, powered by a movement from Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. This didn't last long and after Force India went into administration in 2018, and was taken over by a consortium lead by billionaire Lawrence Stroll, it's had no watch partnerships. 

Felio Siby Force India Watch

The current drivers for Racing Point, however, do wear watches and Sergio Perez is even a bit of a watch collector. He has admitted to owning around 20 timepieces and each of them were purchased for special occasions as a memento, the first one for the first salary that he received, followed by first podium, first child, etc. He has been quite diplomatic in not mentioning any brands. However, a quick dig around the interwebs revealed a few stand outs. Franc Vila presented Perez his very own watch back in 2010, when he announced his debut with Sauber for the following year in F1. Of course, when you drive for Sauber, you had to represent the team's watch partner which was Certina. When Perez went over to McLaren in 2013 he had TAG Heuer watches, and I'm assuming he had to wear TW Steel with Force India.

And Lance Stroll? He's had an Oris watch from his days at Williams, but no watches right now at Racing Point, but given he's the son of a billionaire...

Franc Vila Sergio Perez

5. Alpha Tauri Honda - Previously Scuderia Toro Rosso, or Red Bull junior, they've had an ongoing partnership with Casio Edifice. Given this season has only just started we're yet to see a proper Alpha Tauri watch, as Casio is still marketing the previous Toro Rosso edition.

The 2020 Alpha Tauri F1 Car

Casio Edifice Toro Rosso

6. Renault - The partnership with Bell and Ross has been going for a few years now, and again, there is a certain synergy between the brands. Also, both being French probably helps too. The Bell and Ross watches for the Renault F1 team over the years has always been quite striking and distinctive, using various F1 design motifs and team colours as inspiration. The drivers are given a limited edition watch that corresponds to their racing number.

Bell & Ross BR X-1 Tourbillon R.S.20

 

7. Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari - The second team partnered with Richard Mille. Kimi Raikkonen, one of the drivers for the team, has his own Richard Mille watch. In more recent times, Alfa Romeo only returned to F1 racing in 2018, as a title sponsor for the Sauber team. It last competed in F1 back in 1985. From 2019 onwards, Alfa Romeo took over the team completely the and Sauber name was dropped from the entry list. Certina used to be a long standing watch partner with Sauber team. 

Richard Mille RM50-04 Kimi

8. Williams Mercedes - Oris was a long time partner with Williams until they shifted their focus to more eco-friendly initiatives. There is currently no watch partner for Williams, although it seems driver George Russell is wearing an IWC Pilot, possibly due to his ties with Mercedes as a factory-backed driver, and Nicholas Latifi, being the son of multi-billionaire Michael Latifi, can probably buy whatever watch he wants. Latifi is the owner of Sofina Foods and invested 200 million Euro back in 2018 for a 10 percent stake in McLaren Group. Sofina is also the main sponsor for the team this year and quite possibly may become the owner.

George Russell (Left) seen wearing an IWC Pilot in 2019. Can't tell what Robert Kubica is wearing though.

9. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing - TAG Heuer has been a partner with Red Bull ever since they parted ways with McLaren. Red Bull was with Casio, and they still are via their junior team, Alpha Tauri. TAG Heuer has close ties to F1 and was at one stage the official timekeeper for Formula 1 (as Heuer, back in 1974 and remained until the end of the decade, when it passed the torch to Longines). One of the best selling lines of watches from TAG Heuer is actually called "Formula 1". 

TAG Heuer Formula 1 Red Bull Special Edition

10. HAAS - the third team with ties to Richard Mille, and a team that's going through really tough times on track. Partnership extends to drivers, both of whom can be seen wearing RM timepieces.

HAAS F1 team

And there you have it. 2020 will be an interesting year for Formula 1, as they deal with the aftermath of the Coronavirus and work out the best way to get the race numbers up. There are also a number of changes coming up in 2021, with Racing Point becoming the official Aston Martin racing team, and the possibility of Williams changing hands... one thing is for sure. Formula 1 is never lacking in drama and we hope to bring you another edition of watches in Formula 1 next year.

Carmelo Anthony joins the league of Swiss Watch Brand Ambassador

We briefly talked about NBA players and watch endorsements. Well, let us welcome the latest addition to the NBA league of Swiss Horlogerie brand ambassador/friend/connoisseur - Carmelo Anthony. The news came around the same time as AP releasing some news about their friend of the brand LeBron visting the factory at Le Brassus and the launch of the new LeBron James Limited Edition. (Although I'm sure we'll soon see the IWC Melo limited edition - maybe they can pacakge it with a pair of shoes, with the strap made from the same material as the shoes? Imagine hyperfused and flywire straps! Hmmm... Copyright on that idea! Same goes for LeBron.)

Carmelo Anthony joins IWC as a friend of the brand

Jordan Melo M10 goes pretty well with the IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar... 

Is it a coincidence that the players getting their own watches also happen to be the ones with a signature shoe? LeBron is up to number 11 with Nike, and Carmelo up to number 10 with Jordan. (Incidentally, Hublot ambassador, the Black Mumba himself Kobe Bryant also made news recently about him presenting HIS watch to a few lucky owners in Abu Dhabi. He's up to number 9 on his shoes with Nike. Yes, only 9 generations as he was with Adidas before that)

Nike Kobe 8 Black Mumba goes perfectly with the Hublot

The AP Royal Oak Offshore Lebron Edition. Limited, no doubt.

Makes me wonder when/which Swiss watch brand will pick up CP3 as an ambassador? he's up to shoe number 7 with Jordan... Bit of a shame that high end Swiss watches wasn't in vogue when Michael Jordan was at his peak. Rose is only up to shoe number 4 but he has plenty of potential...

But going off the prices of these watches, (AP, Hublot, IWC...) I think I'll stick to the shoes...

Lewis Hamilton Visits IWC Schaffhausen

It was only a matter of time (pun intended) for speedster Lewis Hamilton to drop in at the IWC factory in Schaffhausen, after being confirmed as an ambassador alongside Nico Rosberg from 2013 onwards, thanks to the partnership between IWC and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team. Nico was featured heavily during IWC's SIHH party in January this year, simply because there probably wasn't enough time to get Lewis sorted, contractually and legally and who knows what else. It's also a great year that IWC jumped on board with Mercedes AMG as they're having a stellar year in F1, with Lewis's seemingly crazy move not so crazy after all.

PHOTOPRESS/Samuel Truempy

IWC has also been very clever in their product placement for the drivers. The watches probably won't withstand the sort of G forces you get in a F1 car, so they've plastered a big watch pic on the driving gloves, so whenever you get a "driver's view" camera shot, you can see the watch very clearly and prominently in the middle of the screen.

PHOTOPRESS/Samuel Truempy

Lewis's travelling itinerary is pretty hectic already. But he found the time to pop into Schaffhausen on the way from Monza to Singapore last week. Apart from the mandatory posed happy snaps which reveals nothing at all, a speech and a demo run on the simulator, what I guess all the watch nuts really want to know is, after visiting both the Tag Heuer factory (during his time at McLaren) and IWC factory, what does Lewis really think of the two watch brands? I doubt we'll ever get anything on record, but I think that's one thought I'd pay a very pretty penny for. Maybe even two...

Pilot Watch Worldtimer Showdown!

Recently we received a letter from one of our readers*. It says, "Dear Sydney Tart, I'm a pilot and I travel the world. What can you suggest in the form of a pilot watch with world time zone functions? "

Well Mr Pilot, I'm very glad you asked that question because we have found not one, but 4 watches that are right up your alley, at different price points, so you're covered if you work for Jetstar or Emirates or you fly your own Cessna. Let's explore further.

For starters, as a criteria, all watches features the pilot watch style, along with a world time zone function. All watches in this list shows the cities from the 24 time zones around the edge of the dial, with day/night indicators. Most of the representative city names for the time zones are the same, with some minor differences here and there. One of the watches runs a manually wound movement whilst the other three are automatic. One runs a heavily modified ETA movement, the others are manufacture in-house movements. Two of the watches features no additional functions apart from date, while the other two adds the alarm function, and one goes further with a chronograph built in as well. It's up to you whether you feel you need the additional functions or you're happy with time and date. Two of the watches also feature daylight saving indications, whereas the other two you'll have to add/subtract an hour yourself. You also need to note that none of these watches show half-hour time zones, so if you're based in New Delhi or Adelaide, ahem...

This quartet of watches not only covers a fairly broad price range, they also cover a range of sizes, from 42mm to 46mm. Some will wear larger/smaller than others so as always, we recommend that you try the watches on if you can. As worldtimers, you're not going to have a clean dial, Although one brand does it quite well. All the other have fairly busy dials. Hopefully this will give you a good idea of what's available, and depending on you needs and wants and thickness of your wallet, you can't go wrong with any of them. But, we do have our pick, which we will reveal after the specs for each model.

Alpina Startimer Pilot Worldtimer

Movement: Automatic caliber AL-718, 

48 hour power reserve

Case Diametre: 44mm

Water resistant: 100m

Limited Edition: 8888 pieces

Price: USD3,450

IWC Pilot's Watch Worldtimer

Movement: Automatic Caliber 30750, 

42 hour power reserve

Case Diametre: 45mm

Water resistance: 60 meters

Price: USD9,650

Vulcain Aviator GMT

Movement: Mechanical manually-wound Manufacture Vulcain Calibre V-10,

42 hour power reserve with alarm function.

Alarm Duration: Approx. 20 seconds

Case Diametre: 42mm

Case-back: triple case-back acting as a resonance chamber 

Water resistant: 100m

Price: USD5,525

Zenith Pilot Doublematic

Movement: El Primero 4046, automatic, 50h power reserve, 36.600 A/h, big date, chronograph, World Time, alarm

Case Diametre: 45mm 

water resistant: 50m

Price: USD14,200

Our pick of the bunch would have to be the Zenith. Yes it is the most expensive watch here but to us it is also the best value for money, given all the included complications. 

*the reader and/or the letter may or may not be fictional. Juz sayin'

Formula 1 and Watches Update! 2013

F1 and watches update!

Information are current as of Monaco GP 2013

Since our last post on the relationship between F1 and watches, quite a bit have changed. So just to offer an update, here are where things stand. So, if it's not mentioned here it'll be business as usual as per our previous post.

The most obvious and noticed change for 2013 is Rolex taking over the Formula 1 official timing partner role from Hublot. Hublot of course stays on as partners to Ferrari.

After being dropped or dropping TW Steel, Lotus has now picked up Richard Mille (quite an upgrade, in fact) from the Spanish GP onwards. Richard Mille already provides watches for Massa and the president of the FIA - Jean Todt. So, it's only natural that they also stick their name on the nose of a racing team. However, this deal doesn't seem to extend to drivers as Romain Grojean still wears a TAG Heuer, and Kimi seems to remain watch-less for now...

Richard Mille's Jean Todt Limited Edition

TW Steel had jumped ship over to Force India at the beginning of the year. So it's the first time that Force India has an official watch partner. Perhaps our post had something to do with it??

However, an interesting thought had occurred. TW Steel picked up Lotus (back when it was Renault) right after the spygate scandal and they've now become a force to be reckoned with. Force India is now doing quite well with TW Steel stickers on the car. Perhaps these boys are some sort of a good luck charm to the team? Maybe Caterham should consider getting TW Steel on side?

The IWC and Mecedes GP partnership was mentioned before as IWC launched a complete range of Ingenieur watches at SIHH 2013. But rather than being a watch partner, they're actually an "engineering" partner. However, starting from the Monaco Gran Prix, both drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will become "Friends of the Brand". This is quite the step up for both pilots, Nico from Thomas Sabo and Lewis from TAG Heuer. They were both given the Big Pilot's Watch to wear as they are both, err, pilots... Team pricipal Ross Brawn can be seen wearing one of the new Ingenieurs.

After losing Lewis to IWC, TAG Heuer picks up Sergio Perez as he partners Jenson Button at McLaren, and as we all know all McLaren drivers automatically becomes ambassadors for TAG Heuer.

Caterham did partner with watch brand BRM from the beginning of 2012 (How I missed this I have no idea, and no one seemed to have picked it up!!) and I'm assuming this continues into 2013 as BRM website currently has the Caterham F1 limited edition watches on their website.

Torro Rosso drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Verne still doesn't have any watch sponsorship...

Everything else remains the same for the time being.