The Ayrton Senna x TAG Heuer Appreciation Thread

The Watches of Aryton Senna pre-TAG Heuer

While this is a TAG Heuer forum, I think it would be remiss not to include the watches Senna wore prior to his arrival at McLaren & TAG Heuer sponsorship.

During his early years in auto racing, he seemed to favor black digital watches. His personal choice, as he didn't have a watch sponsorship prior to TAG.

In '83, when he won the British F3 championship, he was wearing a Casio Calculator watch. I'm unsure of the exact model. Seen here with Martin Brundle.


During his F1 rookie year with Toleman, his watch of choice was a Casio TS-1000 Thermometer watch.


With Senna's move to Team Lotus, he not only got a big upgrade in his racing car, but his watch as well. During the '85, '86, & '87 seasons, he wore a Seiko SpeedMaster ref. A828 Black & Gold. This series was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Italian automotive design legend behind such classics as the Lotus Esprit, DeLorean, & BMW M1. He also designed the Seiko worn by "Ripley" in the movie "Aliens".

Less famous is the Senna model, but if you know, you know (and now you all know). It's probably no coincidence that Senna's personal choice was a perfect match for the livery on the John Player Special Lotus.


At Estoril in '85, Senna's first win.


The Senna Seiko can also be seen in the famous & iconic photo of Senna, Prost, Mansell & Piquet. The main rivals for the '86 F1 championship. Taken at Portugal in '86, the third to the last race, when all 4 still had a shot of winning the title.


In '87, Lotus would change to Honda power and Camel livery. Nevertheless, Senna continued to wear the Seiko SpeedMaster for much of the season. Seen here at Monaco.


IMHO, the Senna Seiko A828 SpeedMaster Giugiaro Design is a significant watch. It was Aryton's personal choice and his primary (if not only) watch worn during his 3 years at Team Lotus. Making it a "True Senna" watch, just like his TAG Heuer S/el and 6000.

During my research on Senna's pre-TAG years, I was quite taken with the Seiko, so I bought one!
Mine is the 2018 Seiko reissue, limited to 3000 pieces, and I believe also limited to the Japan market. It just arrived today, my first #NWA of 2024. 😀

This is a pretty cool addition Mate.
Thank you for the back story also.
A true Senna superfan.

Thanks @Anthony.R and @Jemagloh!
I bought it to sit with my Senna collection on a shelf, but I'm actually enjoying wearing it. 😁
While the design goes back to '83, it still feels contemporary and dare I say less dated than the S/el or 6000.

The Senna Pre-TAG Heuer years continued...

When Senna won his first championship in 1988 with McLaren, we'd all like to think he was wearing TAG Heuer. But in fact, this was not the case. Throughout his entire first season with McLaren Honda, he was again wearing his favored black LCD watches. After his "Team Lotus" Seiko, he switched back to Casio again when he moved to McLaren.

But this was not the Casio of his younger years, he was now wearing what I believe to be a Casio DBT-70W 662 "Databank Timetable" for most of the '88 Season. It took me quite a while to ID this watch (with 80% certainty based on this pic from the '88 German GP), I don't think anyone else has identified it before.

Also seen here in Mexico '88.


By the end of the year, he had switched to yet another watch. I think it's also a Casio (different model), but I haven't been able to ID this one yet. The picture below is from Suzuka when he clinched his first championship.


It wouldn't be until the first race of the '89 season that we finally see Senna wearing a TAG Heuer in Brazil. But it's not the S/el. The first TAG Heuer he raced with was actually a Series 2000 Chronograph!


Senna would then change to his perennial favorite S/el ana-digi for most of the '89 season. Here with Fangio at the 1989 Mexican GP.

31 years since that magic first lap in Donington… 🙄

I've been enjoying my Seiko Senna so much, I've picked up a second one. 😀
An original vintage '83 model. It basically looks the same as the reissue, but there are differences. It's lighter and the bracelet is made differently, thinner with more articulation. I actually prefer the vintage bracelet. Also, the inner bezel of the reissue has silver lettering, whereas the vintage piece has all gold, as worn by Senna.


Another nice detail is that vintage JDM models have this cool helmet and "SpeedMaster" on the clasp. 👍


There are several pictures of Senna wearing the watch at home. He wore it daily during his Lotus years, on and off the track.

To mark the 30th Anniversary of Senna's passing, the Ayrton Senna Forever Exhibition opens today 24-4-24 at the Turin Auto Museum in Italy.
Ayrton Senna Forever - MAUTO (museoauto.com)


Preview pics

As I mentioned previously, Senna wore a Casio DBT-70W 662 during most of his first season with McLaren in '88. But then switched to another watch late in the season. I think I've Identified that other watch, as shown in these pictures from Suzuka when he clinched his first championship.



Without better photos, I can't be 100% sure, but I believe this watch is a Seiko Race Master A781. Which was released in 1988.


Later, a Seiko x Honda F1 Grand Prix Racing Team version (below) was released, which might've been inspired by Senna wearing it when he won the '88 championship. It looks slightly different from the version Senna wore and note the Honda F1 branding. This watch also came in other colors, such as white.

Good detective work!

I've been doing more research on Senna's watches and came across that photo again in slightly better resolution.


However, I now believe I was mistaken. I thought he was wearing a cream dial, with a spare in his briefcase. But I think it's the reflection of the cream surroundings that makes the dial look cream.

In this other photo from what seems to be the same flight, it shows he's actually wearing the grey dial. So it seems he only had one of each (maybe).

This is all good Michael, but given all this information that you've provided does it not rather leave you feeling that the cream dial S/EL is rather overplayed as THE Senna watch?

No! I just bought a second one..😡

Oh, okay then! Sorry. 😬

Found this one in Switzerland a few weeks ago. Couldn't resist

Cool, but why do you need two?

Bro, Senna had two. A proper fan clearly needs two

No he didn't. Michael said he thought he had two but it turned out he had a cream one and a grey one.

Try and keep up