LVMH officially announces a ten-year global partnership with Formula 1.

Rumors that spread in the middle of summer were confirmed at the beginning of October: after eleven years of domination as the official timekeeper on the F1 race track, it looks like Rolex is passing the baton to an LVMH brand.

Official photographs accompanying the announcement of the ten-year contract show Bernard Arnault alongside his son Frédéric, who took over the reins at TAG Heuer in 2020. 

Forbes has named Arnault senior as the richest person in the world for the second year running. In January, his 29-year-old son was appointed CEO of LVMH Watches.


There's still some suspense even though the title of global partner has unequivocally been conferred to TAG Heuer. This main source of confidence in TAG Heuer's prominent role is the fact that the brand already has serious F1 connections.

TAG Heuer is the official partner and timekeeper of the Oracle Red Bull Racing Team, sponsor of the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, and the Official Watch Partner of both the F1 Monaco Grand Prix and Monaco Top Cars Collection Museum.

Meanwhile, Zenith supports the more environmentally conscious Extreme E electric racing rally championship, while the watchmakers at Hublot place their bets on football and sailing (and let's not forget that Novak Djokovic picks up his awards as a Hublot ambassador).

LVMH is embarking on this partnership at a time when the races are doing very well, and the deal is estimated to be worth USD 150 million annually, although no official estimate has been made public.

In 2023, the races were attended by over 6.2 million spectators, and that's 400,00 more than in 2022. The American cable television channel ESPN which broadcasts F1 estimates that each race is watched by an average of 1.11 million viewers.

They certainly can't compete with the 30.6 million people who watched the Olympics, which LVMH supported, but still... Besides, Formula 1 has long been about more than the action on track.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, spectators were treated to after-race concerts with headliners Tiësto and the Foo Fighters, while Will Smith performed ahead of the Grand Prix in Baku.

LVMH begins its new role in 2025, the year F1 marks its 75th anniversary—another incentive for the brands to showcase the best they have to offer. We'll have to wait and see what F1 will bring TAG Heuer.