The Ayrton Senna x TAG Heuer Appreciation Thread

Geert Jaeken

Hello everybody, I am a new member from Belgium and a huge Senna and Tag Heuer fan for over 30 years. I found a Instagram profile of a Brazilian memorabilia trader called b.i.a. collecionaveis (Banco De Ivestimos Alterativos). They have an incredible selection of Senna memorabilia for sale. This week, they posted a Tag Heuer F1 first generation, worn by Senna during karting in his home in Brazil. The box was signed by the legend. There are pictures of Ayrton with a young Bruno Senna whilst he was wearing the watch on their instagram page. I took a screenshot of the watch listing… never seen Ayrton wearing this before…

Mspeedster

Welcome to the forum @Geert Jaeken!!! It's great to have another Senna and TAG Heuer fan! Thanks for the pointer to the memorabilia trader too. 👍

Earlier in this thread, I posted about a documentary that showed Senna giving TAG Heuer F1 watches to kids at his Karting events as prizes.

https://tagheuerforums.com/posts/2440533/

Mspeedster · Jan 13, 2025

Here's a documentary that shows Senna's personal life and hobbies. This was made during the winter hiatus after winning the 1990 world championship.

I especially enjoyed the segment about the Karting track on his personal estate. At the end of the race (about 28:40 seconds in), he gives away a bunch of TAG Heuer watches to the kids. I believe they're Formula1s.

Throughout most of the documentary, Senna is wearing his Anthracite dial S/EL ana-digi.

There are probably many Formula 1 watches that were given away by Senna. But if he actually wore that one, it's very special indeed!

I've seen pictures of his girlfriend Adriane Galisteu wearing that same model. Maybe he wore it sometimes too?

Geert Jaeken

Thanks for your reply and for the picture of Adriane wearing that watch… Indeed, I never noticed him wearing that watch before stumbling on that memorabilia trader. What I also found remarkable is that in the pictures he is wearing a Sergio Tachini tracksuit and his John Player Special helmet from his Lotus days whereas the pictures I think are from 1990 or 1991considering the age of Bruno…? Any insights on that?

Geert Jaeken

Thanks for your reply and for the picture of Adriane wearing that watch… Indeed, I never noticed him wearing that watch before stumbling on that memorabilia trader. What I also found remarkable is that in the pictures he is wearing a Sergio Tachini tracksuit and his John Player Special helmet from his Lotus days whereas the pictures I think are from 1990 or 1991considering the age of Bruno…? Any insights on that?

Geert Jaeken

I took a screenshot of the watch listing… never seen Ayrton wearing this before…

Mspeedster

I’ve seen pictures of Ayrton wearing his Lotus helmet while Karting for fun as late as 1994. He kept all his helmets, so it’s not a sure way to date things.

Senna’s autograph on that box is dated ‘91. But again, that might not necessarily be the year of the pic.

Finally, I’m not so sure the boy is Bruno. Hard to tell with the helmet on. Senna had a Karting track on his estate and had children racing there often, as shown in the documentary. So it might be some other boy.

First time for me seeing him wear that watch too. But as Senna gave many F1 watches away as prizes at his Karting events, it’s not surprising he’d wear one from time to time.

And because he gave many away, how do we know for sure the one for sale is the one he wore in the pic? Anyone of those kids who got a F1 as a prize could have asked Senna to sign their box. It would still be special since it was given by Senna, but not as special as one he wore.

In addition, the picture doesn’t show the watch on his wrist clearly enough to identify it. It might actually be some other watch on his wrist.

Mspeedster

After looking at that Instagram picture more closely, I believe the watch being worn may not be a Formula 1.

The case shape looks slightly different, as does the strap. I can't see a dive bezel on the case either. But the biggest clue is there seems to be a black rectangle on the side of the watch. Which the Formula 1 doesn't have.

More likely, I'd guess it's one of the many LCD digital watches that Senna often wore. The picture doesn't show the watch well enough to be sure one way or the other, but I certainly wouldn't buy the F1 watch for sale based on this picture.

Geert Jaeken

I noticed in the previous posts some suestion about a square watch Ayrton is wearing. I think this might ge his hearth rate monitor. I will post some pictures of some watch related items from a Brazilian book ‘100 Senna’ about his personal objects

Wow some thorough research 🧐, thanks! Indeed, I sometimes wonder where these memorabilia dealers keep finding these items…