TAG Heuer's Formula 1 Watch Collection

The relationship has been long and fruitful. TAG’s auto racing brand ambassadors have included champions from Fangio to Lauda to Senna. It had a 25-year marriage with leading scuderia McLaren. And it's still wedded to the circuit and the stable via brand endorsement deals with lead drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, who won the world championship in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Today it is still comfortably walking that same line between celebrating Formula 1 and profiting from it. Its current collection is undeniably sporty in a youthful way, featuring high colour contrast between dial and bezel, racy lines and blocky hands. The TAG Heuer F1 orange chronograph co-designed by two-time champ and current championship leader Fernando Alonso, with its bright orange dial and outsize bezel is typical.

TAG’s latest in the ladies’ line, meanwhile, the spectacular Lady Steel and Ceramic that first saw the light of day at this year’s Baselworld, marries two contrasting materials to maximum effect, the solid dependability of steel with the lightweight strength and smooth stylishness of ceramic.

The white-dial version is particularly striking, with its 60 diamonds set around the outside of a steel bezel with ceramic inlay and the steel bracelet also featuring a ceramic centre line. Absent a ladies Formula 1 champion, so far at least, TAG secured the next best thing, Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, to champion their new creation.