Formula 1 and watches go hand in hand, and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has one of the best.
Whether it’s Rolex, TAG Heuer or Richard Mille, every team and driver has a sponsor that has to be on show on their forearm during a Grand Prix weekend.
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For five-time constructors champion Horner, his is far more about sentiment than status though, possessing a TAG that is almost two decades old.
Now one of the most successful team bosses in the history of F1, Horner bought his timepiece before he even made the top tier of motorsport.
But it was his final year in GP2 that inspired the purchase, with the Englishman earning himself a job with Red Bull the following year, one that he still holds to this day.
He explained ahead of the Italian Grand Prix: “I have a history with this watch going back many many years to 2004.
“I had a team in what is now Formula 2 and we had a race in Monaco and Vitantonio Liuzzi, the Italian driver, he won the race.
“In those days Berine Ecclestone [former F1 CEO] used to pay cash for the victory and so I got his envelope full of cash for the victory and I thought I’m only going to spend it on something so I wanted a memory of that victory.
“I was at Nice airport and I couldn’t afford the Monaco but I could afford the Monza with that cash, so with that cash I bought the Monza watch and I still have it.”
The Monza edition, full name, The TAG Heuer Monza Calibre Heuer 02 COSC Flyback, is worth an estimated £11,000, and recently underwent a minor tweak.
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After Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel-inspired era of dominance from 2010 to 2013, it was a long road back to the top for the Milton Keynes squad, who had to watch race after race of Mercedes victories.
Now things have swapped back, and with a constructors win last season, their first in almost a decade, Horner made an adjustment to his watch,
“It’s inscribed with the championship in it for the constructors championship in 2022 so it’s a unique watch,” he explained.
“It’s one of one and I feel very lucky to have it, very grateful. That brand is synonymous with Formula 1 and TAG have so many watches that have a history in and around Formula 1 and obviously the Monza is very much one of them.”