Coronet, a blog dedicated to Rolex news, has reported that ‘sources in Geneva’ revealed that LVMH will be the new official timekeeper as of 2025, with an annual contract costing around $USD150 million.
The report does not specify TAG Heuer as the brand leading the supposed partnership; however, given the brand’s previous associations with motor racing it would appear to be the most likely choice.
Should this new partnership progress, it would abruptly end an 11-year agreement between Rolex and Formula 1.
“Rolex started its role as the global timekeeper of F1 back in 2013, not being the official sponsor of any one team and allowing other brands to be associated with them and their drivers, while Rolex branding stayed consistent across all racetracks,” writes Russell Sheldrake of Time & Tide.
“According to Forbes, Rolex pays an estimated $USD50 million annually to be the official timepiece of the motor racing series, but the sport has seen a boom in popularity in the last couple of years.
“The sport had an average of 70 million global viewers per Grand Prix last year, with an increase across the board from pre-pandemic numbers.”
In February, a new analysis of the market capitalisation of the world’s leading luxury goods companies highlighted LVMH's dominance, while Rolex narrowly scraped into the top 20.
In an interview with WatchPro, CEO of LVMH’s watch division, Frédéric Arnault, said that motorsports would be the company's keen focus over the coming decade. He attributed this interest to the expanding global audience of young consumers.
"Many watch brands are associated with Formula 1 teams and drivers — TAG Heuer, Richard Mille, Bremont [for now], Girard-Perregaux, IWC, H. Moser & Cie. and Tudor — but Rolex’s 13-year-long association is what 60-70 million racing fans worldwide see in almost every frame of television coverage," writes Rob Corder.
"Few sports have that sort of reach, and that is before the perfect alignment with precision engineering, split-second timekeeping, sporting excellence and almost infinite opportunities for corporate hospitality are factored in."
In July of the past year, LVMH was named a major sponsor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
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