Lewis Hamilton‘s association with IWC began ever since he switched from McLaren to Mercedes. The Briton proudly sports its most exclusive collections. However, being the watch connoisseur that he is, one can spot him donning timepieces from some rival brands. Away from the F1 paddocks, a watch expert noticed just that and couldn’t help but praise Hamilton for his Patek Philippe collection.
Nico Leonard spotted Hamilton wearing a Patek Philippe 5980 chronograph. He also revealed that the retail price of one of those is between $160,000 to $200,000. Another Patek Philippe he caught on the seven-time F1 champ’s wrist was the 5740. This piece, again, goes for $200,000. It’s safe to say that Hamilton spent north of $400,000 on watches, that he isn’t associated with, in terms of sponsorships.
While Leonard’s opinion of the watches was fairly positive, his opinion of Hamilton was not so forgiving. In the 3-month-old video, he called Hamilton “the most eccentric guy on the f*cking planet.” Bashing him over his fashion choices, Leonard said, “That guy sometimes comes in walking in a bin bag.” He also trashed IWC’s recent releases despite admittedly being an IWC collector himself.
Being IWC’s ambassador since 2013, Hamilton enjoys early access to their collection, on top of being a collaborative designer. Among his choicest collection lie the Portugieser Tourbillon Retrograde Chronograph Limited Edition Lewis Hamilton, the Big Pilot Top Gun Lake Tahoe, and the Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Mojave Desert.
IWC’s partnership with Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team started back in 2013. That brings Hamilton and his teammate George Russell under the commercial obligation of promoting the brand. As a result of this association, Hamilton got access to another exclusive club.
Lewis Hamilton among the choicest few to own 2 limited edition IWC watches
The Mercedes AMG One is not just the Silver Arrows’ flagship supercar, but also among the most sought-after speedsters out there. Hamilton loved the car so much that he decided to buy not one but two of those. One for himself and the other for his father.
Being Mercedes AMG’s partners since 2004, IWC made the deal even sweeter for the exclusive club of buyers. IWC decided to throw in a Big Pilot’s Constant Force Tourbillon Edition ‘AMG ONE’ watch for every Mercedes AMG One purchase.
Being the owner of two of those, Hamilton got two limited edition timepieces as well! Incidentally, Mercedes decided to produce only 275 Ones. That means only 275 purchasers will get their hands on AMG One watch.
The tie-ups between F1 teams and watch brands are no new phenomenon. Being in the racing realm, timekeeping is an essential part of the ecosystem. Owing to that, F1 has had official sponsors for timekeeping. In furtherance to it, F1 teams also started to engage in sponsorship deals with watch brands. Among those are Red Bull (Tag Heuer), Ferrari and McLaren (Richard Mille), and of course, Mercedes (IWC).
