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When LVMH inked an estimated $1 billion cope with Method One late final yr, it marked a turning level for the posh firm’s involvement in sports activities.
F1 is essentially the most elite motorsport, with 24 races worldwide. LVMH’s 10-year collaboration includes three of its manufacturers taking part within the occasions, together with Tag Heuer changing Rolex because the official timekeeper and bespoke Louis Vuitton trophy trunks being gifted to winners.
This previous weekend, as groups had been gearing up for the Monaco Grand Prix, LVMH chief Bernard Arnault visited the Purple Bull Racing paddock along with his sons: Frédéric, CEO of Loro Piana accountable for the F1 partnership; Alexandre, the deputy CEO of the wines and spirits division; and Jean, Louis Vuitton’s watch director.
Tag Heuer turned the official F1 timekeeper and first title sponsor for the Monaco race. The model has a protracted reference to the city-state, having designed a watch assortment sharing the “Monaco” title in 1969. It additionally has an entire line of F1-themed watches that may value as a lot as £4,750.
Its timekeeping return, having final been the official timekeeper in 2003, has put the LVMH-owned watch label on buyers’ radars.
“For the reason that starting of 2025, site visitors is up double digits within the shops,” Tag Heuer’s CEO Antoine Pin told Vogue Business. “We adjusted manufacturing barely upward on the car-related fashions, just like the Carrera and the Monaco [to meet demand]. These fashions are pulling the enterprise ahead, which can also be why I feel the F1 works.”
F1 visibility may reap advantages over time, too. Though its occasions have attracted A-listers everywhere in the world, F1 races have appealed to a youthful and wider demographic, boosting their viewership and curiosity. Netflix’s Drive to Survive present additionally helped make the game really feel more accessible by providing a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.
This bodes properly for Tag Heuer, which has been rising in traction. It’ll be prominent at F1 races (some, like Monaco, greater than others), which final your complete yr and will likely be one other manner for the corporate to flaunt its historic ties with F1.
Tag Heuer’s place jumped within the checklist of prime 20 Swiss watch manufacturers by gross sales from fifteenth in 2023 to eleventh in 2024, in response to a report printed by Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult earlier this yr.
“We’re in a part the place we set up our position because the timekeeper. Sooner or later, we may focus [our message] on the spectacular facet of Method One and the feelings it generates, all that contributes to its ongoing enchantment,” Pin stated.
LVMH has made inroads into the world of sports activities in additional methods than F1. The corporate partnered with the Paris Olympics last year, with Chaumet designing the winners’ medals and Louis Vuitton creating the medals trunks encasing them till they had been awarded.
Louis Vuitton was the title associate of America’s Cup in Barcelona, a collaboration with the crusing championship that dates again to 1983.
Final yr, the conglomerate additionally purchased a majority stake within the soccer membership Paris FC, whereas Chanel turned the official associate for The Boat Race within the U.Okay. between Oxford and Cambridge universities.
LVMH and different luxurious gamers may use an injection of pleasure now, particularly as the posh downturn continues whereas a world commerce battle leaves manufacturers grappling with uncertainty.
The intersection of luxurious and sports activities permits luxurious labels to affect totally different teams of patrons by way of athletes and occasions. If profitable, they might draw bigger audiences, each for the sporting occasion and the manufacturers.
Representatives at LVMH didn’t instantly return Fortune’s request for remark.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com