TAG Heuer and Porsche announce their partnership

0 0 Thursday 4 February 2021 Edit this post

TAG Heuer and Porsche have joined forces and started a new partnership that the two brands are announcing today worldwide.

TAG Heuer and Porsche announce their partnership

The collaboration of the two iconic brands appears like a perfect alliance considering their common DNA in motorsports and racing.

TAG Heuer and Porsche have a number of things in common and their stories have often intersected.

Both companies were founded by self-taught entrepreneurs, Edouard Heuer and Ferdinand Porsche. Recognized pioneers in their respective fields, Heuer was responsible for the first manufactured chronograph and Porsche invented an electric wheel hub motor. Both these accomplishments earned medals at World’s Fairs held in Paris 11 years apart. Heuer was honoured in 1889 and Porsche presented the first Lohner-Porsche Electromobile with this innovation at the Expo in Paris in 1900.

Both brands have a special link with the Carrera name, which is now instantly associated to speed and technical excellence.

Ferdinand Porsche’s son, Ferdinand Anton Ernst or “Ferry”, joined his father’s engineering office in 1931 at the age of 22 and founded the car brand that bears the family name in 1948. Within a few years, the Porsche name would be associated with race track success all around the world – including a class win in the Carrera Panamericana race of 1954. In honour of its successful participation, Porsche calls its most powerful engine ‘Carrera’.

Porsche celebrating its victory at the Carrera Panamericana in 1954 - Courtesy of classicdriver.com

Edouard Heuer’s great-grandson Jack led his family’s company for decades. In 1963, he created the first Heuer Carrera chronograph, designed to let drivers tell the time at a glance in the heat of action.

The Heuer Carrera Chronograph in a 1964 catalogue

It is also interesting to remember that TAG Heuer was the name assumed by Heuer when it was sold to the TAG Group in the mid-1980s. TAG and Porsche cooperated to develop and produce the TAG-Turbo engine that enabled the McLaren team to win three consecutive F1 world titles in 1984, 1985 and 1986. The relationship continued in the following years in various motorsport competitions, including the Porsche Carrera Cup and Supercup and the Endurance World Championship.

One of the most successful F1 engine of the 1980s, the Porsche-TAG TTE P01 powering the McLaren cars - Picture courtesy of enginelabs.com

Porsche created its own Formula E team with TAG Heuer as title and timing partner in 2019.

As the first celebration of the new partnership, the new TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph has been unveiled today. You can read about it here.