The Need for Speed: 7 Motorsport Watches That Define Performance

You can’t talk about motorsport and watches without TAG Heuer – and its new Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph | F1 makes the case in emphatic fashion. Motorsport has been the Swiss manufacture’s arena for over half a century. In 1969 – when the brand was still Heuer (it became TAG Heuer in 1985 when Techniques d’Avant Garde acquired a majority stake) – it became the first non-automotive brand and first watch brand to put its logo on a Formula 1 car. By 1971, it was the first watchmaker to sponsor an F1 team with Scuderia Ferrari. That momentum carried through decades of pit-lane innovation, including service as F1’s Official Timekeeper from 1992 to 2003 – a role the brand resumes this year, while also becoming title partner of the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco.

Within that lineage sits the Monaco, born in 1969 as the first automatic, water-resistant square chronograph and immortalised by Steve McQueen in Le Mans. The new Split-Seconds model is also a hat tip to Heuer’s century-old split-timing pedigree – from the 1916 Mikrosplit stopwatch, which measured separate intervals to 1/100th second, to pit-lane rattrapantes used by Scuderia Ferrari and quartz split-seconds worn by Senna, Berger and Schumacher – bringing that DNA into a modern, hand-finished rattrapante built for today’s grid.

The Streamliner Alpine Mechanics Edition shatters conventional design as the world’s first timepiece designed specifically for Formula 1 team operations. This hybrid creation combines mechanical timekeeping with cutting-edge connected technology. The mysterious black digital display activates on demand to reveal GMT with country selector, split-seconds chronograph measuring to 1/100th second and specialised F1 mode with race countdowns and team alerts.

Its 42.6mm steel case houses the revolutionary Calibre DI0 – developed with Swiss tech firm Sequent – boasting remarkable autonomy: one year in time-only mode or six Grand Prix weekends when fully connected. A small domed Funky Blue fumé dial at 12 o’clock preserves Moser’s horological soul, while displaying traditional time. The duo is sold together in an exclusive presentation case that’s limited to 200 sets.

The Bugatti Tourbillon rewrites the car-watch playbook. Instead of developing another racing chronograph as seen in other partnerships, the New York jeweller and watchmaker delivers pure mechanical drama in a timepiece that replicates the new Bugatti Tourbillon plug-in hybrid hypercar’s V16 engine architecture in miniature form.

A total of 10 defining design elements are directly drawn from the hypercar. Measuring a commanding 52mm by 44mm with a thickness of 15mm, the watch’s case shape mirrors that of the Bugatti Tourbillon car, complete with the front grille flanked by two side radiator inlets. The case houses the extraordinary Caliber JCAM55, featuring a functional V16 engine block automaton meticulously carved from a single piece of transparent sapphire – a material notoriously difficult and costly to shape. Sixteen precision-crafted titanium pistons are driven by a remarkable achievement of micro-engineering: a single-axis crankshaft that is among the longest, most elaborate and delicate components ever manufactured in watchmaking. When activated via the crown pusher, this miniature engine fires in proper sequence, with all pistons moving up and down in perfect synchronisation to mirror a real internal combustion engine for 20 seconds per cycle.

The horological complexity extends far beyond mere visual spectacle. A 30-second flying tourbillon – the fastest Jacob & Co. has ever produced – regulates the movement’s timekeeping, while the revolutionary retrograde jumping hours and minutes completely reimagine time display to mimic an automotive RPM counter, beginning at zero rather than the traditional 12 o’clock position. Both hands execute dramatic jumps at the completion of their 270-degree arcs, resetting to zero and creating visual space for the legendary Bugatti logo to take centre stage.

The Bugatti Tourbillon follows one of Jacob & Co.’s design principles, which is not to use side crowns. It has two: The winding crown, which doubles as the automaton start pusher, is located at the bottom of the case, while the time-setting crown is located on the caseback and is fitted with the brand’s signature lift-out bow for optimal comfort and ease of use.

While not directly motorsports-related like many chronographs in this category, Zenith’s Chronomaster Sport Meteorite deserves recognition for housing one of the watch world’s most revered chronograph movements. The El Primero, launched in 1969 as the world’s first automatic chronograph calibre, remains a benchmark of high-frequency precision that has influenced motorsports timing for decades.

The latest variant elevates this 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) Chronograph prize winner to cosmic heights – literally. Each dial’s meteorite disc originated millions of years ago in deep space, ultimately arriving at Zenith’s Le Locle workshop, where artisans hand-finish each piece to reveal its one-of-a-kind Widmanstätten pattern – naturally occurring geometric structures formed by slow cooling in the cosmic void.

The 41mm stainless-steel case frames the El Primero 3600, a 5Hz (36,000 vph) calibre with a silicon escape wheel that drives a central chronograph hand completing a full rotation every 10 seconds for precise 1/10^th of a second readings. A black ceramic bezel calibrated over 10 seconds underscores that cadence, while Zenith’s signature tri-colour counters in silver, light grey and anthracite contrast crisply against the meteorite dial’s singular aesthetic.

Delivered on an integrated steel bracelet with an additional black rubber strap for versatility, this remarkable timepiece – once a Japan-exclusive – is now available worldwide through Zenith boutiques and authorized retailers.