Cars & Watches: 6 Watch and Car Tie up

Just last week, we covered “Spot the Watch: Automotive Journalists”, we decided to continue the automotive theme this week by covering more on watches that has tie up with car manufactures. The relationship with Car Manufacturers and Watch Maisons is what we always described as an on-going love story and one that would probably end up with a “happily ever after” just like a fairy tale.

Photo Courtesy of Range Rover X Zenith

Cars & Watches: 6 Watch and Car Tie up

In this week’s article, we would attempt to move away from the watches that we have covered previously and cover more on the watches that we have yet to and better yet, a departure from our usual F1 related articles that we have done previously and move towards road cars.

We will be covering watches that have tie ups with car manufacturer from the category of JDMs, SUVs and all the way to Super Cars!

Honda

Honda, one of the most notable name in the JDM car culture, the company that created the S2000, Civic Type Rs and the coveted NSX. Previously, our colleague Robin have covered the Honda Racing Edition Ediface and recently, Honda’s engine tuner and parts manufacturer Mugen have collaborated with Ediface for a watch.

A little background on Mugen (無限) is that it is founded by the son of Honda’s founder Hirotoshi Honda. Despite the familial ties, Mugen was never been owned by Honda. It is just like how AMG was prior to DaimlerChrysler AG’s acquisition.

The Casio EDIFACE ECB-40MU is a collaboration between EDIFICE and MUGEN (legally known as M-TEC Company, Ltd.), the Honda works brand. The watch is released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mugen in 2023, it features the brand colours of MUGEN on the dial, band loop and stitching on the band. The engraving on the bezel features the font used on the shift knobs made by MUGEN. The carbon fiber resin case along with the four-lug design is inspired by the suspension used in Formula race cars while the band is made of Alcantara, the exact same material used in many super cars interiors.

The EDIFACE ECB-40MU’s digital movement features a 36 city world time, Chronograph, alarm, perpetual calendar and the works that all us watch nuts would dream about in a mechanical watch for a grand total of SGD 499 (price of watch is correct as per the Press Release on 30th August 2023)

Mercedes Benz

Moving on from Mugen and Honda, we are featuring one of Germany’s finest car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. Knowing that our Editor-in-Chief Peter is a fan of the brand and was an owner of various S-Class, it is a brand that we cannot miss. Mercedes-Benz is known for their luxury cars but at the same time, they have a division that creates their performance models known as AMG. AMG was founded in 1967 under the name AMG Motorenbau und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH by former Mercedes-Benz engineers Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher. ‘AMG’ stands for Aufrecht, Melcher and Großaspach (Aufrecht’s birth town).

Mercedes-Benz and IWC have always been a long time partner. As IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr have always described themselves as a partner for the Mercedes Benz Petronas F1 Team, it is not surprising that they have numerous collaborations on watches together.

Previously, we featured the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “AMG” IW377903 and the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph that is dedicated to Mercedes-Benz. This time round, we would be featuring the Big Pilot’s Watch AMG G 63. The G63 AMG is the forefront and the Grand Daddy of Performance SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle). The Big Pilot’s Watch AMG G 63 features a case and crown made of either 18-carat Armor Gold^® or ceramic matrix composite (CMC) case, engineered in close collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The Big Pilot’s usually feature a power reserve display at 3 o’clock but both new editions have an additional feature of a small second counter at 9 o’clock. The opposing subdials with external white rings is a reminiscent of the iconic headlights on the front of the formidable G-Class. The black dial is inspired by the air intakes of the AMG performance vehicles.

The Big Pilot’s Watch AMG G 63 is powered by the IWC-manufactured 52010 calibre. The automatic movement features the iconic pellaton winding system to build up a power reserve of seven days in two barrels. The movement is visible through the watch’s tinted sapphire glass back, which features a design language similar to the spare wheel cover on the backside of the G-Class along with the Mercedes-Benz Star.

Land Rover

On the topic of SUV, we can never miss the brand that defines SUV. It is none other than the Range Rover/Land Rover. The Range Rover is a car that is being used by the top dignitaries such as the late Queen Elizabeth II to her favourite spy James Bond. Initially, the brand was created as a ultility vehicle and is now made to be one of the pinnacle in the luxury utility vehicle range.

The Land Rover have tied up with Zenith and have released the Defy Classic. Both brands have a strong history and has is a pioneer in their own leave. The Zenith being the first to bring in a commercially produced Automatic Chronograph movement named the El Primero while Land Rover is the pioneer to make a utility vehicle a luxurious one instead of a stereotype of having such vehicles only in farmlands or at war.

This time, Zenith have created the DEFY 21 Land Rover Edition. This edition features the El Primero high-frequency chronograph which is a departure from the previous time only watch. The DEFY 21 Land Rover Edition embodies the spirit of the new Land Rover Defender that combines the ultimate in ruggedness and comfort. The watch case is crafted in microblasted titanium which absorbs light from all angles to better accentuate its faceted surfaces. Paired with a matching closed grey dial, the redesigned display
features for the first time in a DEFY 21 a linear power reserve window.

Porsche

Right after us featuring the brand that defines what luxury SUV is, we feature the brand that takes Performance SUV to a new height and almost every other sports car manufacturer would like to emulate from the likes of Ferrari to Lamborghini. The rise to fame for the Stuttgart based car manufacturer is the 911 that was dreamed up by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the grand son of Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of Porsche AG.

Porsche and Porsche Design have long had tie ups with different watch maison such as Orfina, the famous watch that we see spotted on the wrist of Tom Cruise’s Maverick on Top Gun are amongst the few.

The Tag Heuer Carrera Chronosprint X Porsche celebrate the 60th Anniversaries of the Tag Heuer Carrera and the Porsche 911. The unique Caliber TH20-08 movement mirrors the Porsche engine and the time that it took to reach 100km/h.

Tag Heuer have recreated the whole watch in a way that the dial is reminisce the speedometer in the early 911 model. It is certainly shows the commitment that both Tag Heuer has along with it’s partner Porsche on not only an aesthetics wise but modified the movement just to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the iconic rear engine flat 6 sports car.

Ferrari

Moving onwards from the famous manufacturer of the Flat 6 engine, we move on to the famous Maranello based manufacturer whose V8 and V12 screams so loudly that makes it instantly recognisable symphony before seeing it and then spotting the car with it’s striking red paint. That’s Ferrari and even a 3 year old would recognise.

The Prancing Horse have various tie ups previously from Girard Perregaux (Check out the Ferrari piece in Peter’s photo collage) to Hublot and now Richard Mille. Richard Mille is known to be an innovative and iconic brand in the watch world. Being one of the newer brands in the scene, it is certainly impressive for them to propel to one of the leading watch maison in just a few short years.

Richard Mille have created an exceptional ultra-flat timepiece, the RM UP-01 Ferrari to celebrate it’s partnership with Ferrari. Standing at just 1.75 millimetres thick, the RM UP-01 Ferrari is a triumph of technical prowess and exemplifies a new approach to watch mechanics.

The RMUP-01 manual-winding movement is capable of withstanding accelerations of more than 5,000 g’s. It weights feather light at 2.87 grams and has a power reserve of 45 hours. The RM UP-01 is certainly a technical marvel that is almost unrivalled in terms of it’s thickness. What a great tribute to it’s partnership.

Lamborghini

Finally, we have arrived to the last manufacturer whose Ferrari’s neighbour and also the very reason why it was set up, to challenge Enzo Ferrari after upsetting Lamborghini’s founder Ferruccio Lamborghini after the latter complaining about the former’s use in inferior clutches and dismissed Lamborghini’s complaint.

Lamborghini is currently tied up with Roger Dubuis. Their tie up is so strong that when we walk past their boutique, we have always mistaken it for a Lamborghini dealership in one way or another. That shows the strong partnership between them which we love to see.

We at Deployant have covered the numerous watches that Roger Dubuis have released in the Lamborghini Squadra Corse collaboration series. One of our favourite is the Excalibur Aventador-S. It’s distinguishing features from the use of carbon fibre case to the ironic colours in Lamborghini’s yellow and orange is certainly striking. The piece de resistance of this particular watch is the jumping seconds complication that is featured in this beautifully decorated movement.

Conclusion

In conclusion, seeing the 6 brands tie up, we have no doubt that the love story is here to stay. Certainly the brands tie up may change as time passes but the general relationship with Horology and Automotive is a never ending fairytale.