IWC X F1 - WHY THE FUTURE OF RACING BELONGS ON THE WRIST

In a year where F1’s pop-culture dominance reaches a fever pitch, IWC's long-awaited Hollywood blockbuster collab cements it as one of the all-time greats of watchmaking and Formula 1's long history; one that’s currently rocking screens all around the world

- By Sharan Sanil

For decades, watch brands have flirted with motorsport—sometimes as tools of the trade, other times as glitzy billboard sponsors. But now, for the first time, that relationship is getting its Hollywood closeup.

F1, the upcoming Apple Original Film directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) and starring Brad Pitt, has been years in the making. It all began with a hush-hush bidding war in 2021, when studios scrambled for rights to the project—Apple TV+ ultimately securing the deal in a package reportedly worth over Rs 1,100 crore, an eye-watering sum for a motorsport film. But the timing couldn't be better. Formula 1 has never been hotter, with Netflix's Drive to Survive turning the once-niche sport into a global pop-culture juggernaut.

The film follows Sonny Hayes (Pitt), a former F1 prodigy from the 1990s whose career was cut short by a devastating crash. Decades later, he's drawn back into the sport by his old friend and team owner, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), to mentor rising star Joshua “Noah” Pearce (Damson Idris) for the fictional APXGP team. Shot during real Grand Prix weekends at circuits like Silverstone and Yas Marina, the production integrates real F1 teams and drivers, and via one of the most high-profile watchmaking placements in Hollywood history, IWC Schaffhausen’s storied relationship with Formula 1.

Seminal films like Grand Prix (1966) and Rush (2013) have flirted with the thrill of F1, but this is the first time a movie has aimed to embed itself into the real world of modern Grand Prix racing; no CGI tricks here. As Bardem recounted in a recent British GQ interview, after watching his costars tear around the track in modified 335 kmph-capable F2 cars, he turned to Kosinski and asked, “What do you think insurance will say about this?”