Legendary Formula One driver Ayrton Senna with a unique TAG Heuer

Legendary Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, who died in a tragic racing accident in 1994, is wearing two-tone stainless steel and 18k yellow gold TAG Heuer Split Seconds Chronograph. He is also one of the brand’s most famous ambassadors and has watches named after him.

The story behind this legendary watch goes that Senna promised that if he won the 1993 world championships, he would switch watches with a mechanic. Senna didn’t win and gave the watch to his staff member, as promised.

About the Watch

The in-house Heuer 02. is undoubtedly the most evident power as a high-end collectible. It has a similar structure of subdials, although in a different location, yet one of the most distinguishing features of the ‘Senna’ timepiece is the ani-digi display. There’s no guarantee that TAG Heuer will be able to synchronize a mechanical timepiece with a digital display. Mechanical movements just do not function to the exact tolerances as quartz movements, but although Urwerk might be capable of pulling it off, the timepiece would undoubtedly be prohibitively expensive.

The original timepiece had a diameter of 40m. However, the Link bracelet F1 variants have a diameter of 43mm. Because the ani/digi segments of the dial are set in place as part of the movement, they will shift further away from the edge of the casing.

The subdials would also move in. even so, this would be less of a problem since one could basically make the subdials somewhat bigger to adapt and fit longer hands. Larger, longer hour, minute, and chronograph hands would be simple to implement. This is if the current F1 case’s pushers can be converted to work along with the longstanding movement. Besides, TAG Heuer can incorporate two additional pushers on the left part to control the digital panels.

On the other hand, Ayrton Senna preferred wearing his timepiece on a brown leather strap rather than a bracelet. He could simply remove the bracelet and replace it with a brown strap from the store. The initial S/EL (Sport Elegance) had an unusually shaped casing; leather strap types had the first link of a bracelet. Afterward, the strap was adjusted to fit around. Later on, TAG crafted a more strap-friendly version of the case. Nonetheless, to entirely give up this in favor of a basic brown leather strap will be a step much further.

Whenever you take a look at Ayrton’s timepiece, it’s antithetical to all that is sellable in a contemporary watch, as cool as it is and as legendary as it is. For starters, it’s two-tone, thus making it pricey. it’s also on a brown leather strap, which requires a bespoke strap to match the one-link bracelet. This is in addition to its quartz AND ani-digi.

Therefore, the best option is to find an original piece and send it back to TAG Heuer for refurbishing if need be. It will most likely be less than a re-issue, plus you’ll be rocking Ayrton’s original timepiece instead of a well-intentioned yet ultimately imperfect replica.

Price: Around USD 400
Watch reference: S25.706C

Photo: Getty Images / TAG Heuer