• 
• TUDOR AND DUCATI
• 
• TUDOR AND PORSCHE MOTORSPORT

TUDOR AND DUCATI:
A PASSION FOR PERFORMANCE

The last day of June 2011 marks another significant milestone for TUDOR, the prestigious brand of sport watches. In 2009, TUDOR redefined its identity. On 30 June 2011, TUDOR becomes the Timing Partner of Ducati, the Italian motorcycle manufacturer, reinforcing the watchmaker’s thoroughly modern sporting vocation.

BORGO PANIGALE (BOLOGNA)
30 JUNE 2011

The well-established alliance between TUDOR and motorsport is expanding into the high-speed world of motorcycle racing, where Ducati enjoys well-deserved fame. The prestigious Swiss maker of timepieces for sport has established close ties with the Italian motorcycle firm – a stalwart of the MotoGP World Championship – as its Timing Partner.

This wide-ranging partnership is marked by the launch of a commemorative watch to celebrate the accord with style, adding to the collection already launched at Baselworld 2011 under the evocative name of Fastrider. This new series of chronographs is expressly designed to measure short periods of time – exactly what is needed in high-speed racing.

TUDOR AND DUCATI:
A STORY OF PARALLEL IDENTITIES

This partnership between one of the great names in the Swiss watchmaking industry and an icon of ‘Made in Italy’engineering, which have a great deal in common, is a natural outcome. While the shared date of birth – 1926 – is merely a coincidence that augurs well, the similar approach adopted by TUDOR and Ducati in their respective spheres of activity owes little to fortune and has drawn them together.

Looking back, there are striking parallels between the two brands apart from their founding date: their ongoing quest for high-performance functionality and original design, combined with a sporting style that is both polished and distinctive. Ducati’s motorcycles, with fast, powerful engines, fitted with desmodromic valves and mounted in a robust frame, are indeed comparable to the resistance, reliability and precision of TUDOR watches.

As early as 1952, advertisements depicted them on the wrists of motorcyclists to demonstrate that they represented the pinnacle of sporting style and performance. The parallels between the two brands – which are not merely coincidental but can be regarded as real and inevitable steps in a shared journey – were highlighted in 1946. Ducati began producing its first motorcycle engine, the Cucciolo, which immediately became famous the world over. Meanwhile, in Geneva, the official establishment of Montres TUDOR SA was a prelude to the launch of the acclaimed TUDOR Oyster.

Both companies focused on bringing out ever more ground-breaking product lines in the following decades. TUDOR’s Oysterdate Chronograph, now the Heritage Chrono, and Ducati’s Monster motorcycle are shining examples of iconic, highly successful products that are both standard-bearers for their brands and share an outstandingly sporting style. Another extraordinary similarity in achieving major goals occurred in 2007: for TUDOR with a repositioning that has brought the brand to its present high visibility, while Ducati chalked up its first world title by winning the MotoGP Championship for both riders and manufacturers.

In 2011, with the joint announcement at the Ducati Museum in Borgo Panigale on June 30 of their close collaboration, TUDOR and Ducati meet again, displaying unity of purpose and mutual support as they advance together on a path that first took shape nearly a century ago.

SUPERLATIVE PERFORMANCE

While continuing to diversify its product line, every brand with a genuine and solid heritage focuses its technical and stylistic experience on leading models which then become emblematic of the brand.

This has been the case with Ducati’s Monster motorcycle, and now the Diavel, while for TUDOR the same applies to the Fastrider collection, whose name immediately evokes the fiercely competitive world of motorcycle racing.

Fastrider is a collection of steel chronographs fitted with a TUDOR calibre 7753 self- winding movement, with a power reserve of 46 hours, in a 42 mm waterproof case with a satin-polished finish. The watches are available with a leather strap, steel bracelet, or black fabric strap with three, contrasting, racing stripes, which have now become one of TUDOR’s distinctive stylistic features. On the Fastrider, the stripes are also echoed on the dial.

The markedly sporting spirit of these chronographs is underlined by the pushers fitted into the middle case through two black PVD-coated cylinders, reminiscent of engine cylinders, and the tachymetric scale engraved on the bezel.

TUDOR is honouring its partnership with the Italian motorcycle team with a special, commemorative Fastrider model that retains the technical features of the other models but uses Ducati red in the vertical stripes of the strap and on the dial, in pleasing contrast to the black of the fabric and totalizers.

A LITTLE HISTORY

TUDOR and Porsche are companies with shared values inspired by two extraordinary men. One from Bavaria, one from Bohemia. Two pioneers. Hans Wilsdorf and Ferdinand Porsche each founded a company that would come to enjoy worldwide renown.

In Switzerland, the cradle of watchmaking, Hans Wilsdorf, who had developed Rolex watches, registered the TUDOR brand in 1926.

That same year in Stuttgart, the cradle of the German automobile industry, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and Benz & Co merged to form Daimler-Benz. Its technical director was none other than the ingenious Ferdinand Porsche. His honorary degree, Doktor Ingenieur honoris causa from the University of Technology of Vienna, is the origin of the “Dr. Ing. h.c.” that appears in the firm’s name.

At the same time as the first TUDOR models were appearing in the early 1930s, Ferdinand Porsche started his own independent consulting firm for engine and car design in Stuttgart. He enlisted some of his talented ex-colleagues including his son Ferry Porsche, who was to be the driving force behind the launch in 1939 of the first Porsche car, the Type 64.

Montres TUDOR SA was established in Geneva in 1946 at the time Ferry Porsche was designing the first four-wheel-drive race car, the Type 360 Cisitalia.

TUDOR launched its Oyster collection in 1947, and the Porsche 356, the first Porsche race car, rolled out in 1948.

CLOSELY LINKED DESTINIES

The 1950s were marked by the TUDOR Oyster Prince and Princess, waterproof watches with a self-winding movement. Porsche brought out the highly responsive, powerful Spyder.

In the early 1960s came the launch of the TUDOR Prince Submariner and the Porsche 911, successful models for both companies. From then on, TUDOR became a watch of choice for Porsche drivers racing at Nürburgring, Daytona, Monza, Le Mans and other classic venues. The TUDOR Oyster Date Chronograph symbolized the 1970s, and Porsche won the World Sportscar Championship and the Manufacturers World Championship in 1976 with the Porsche 935 and 936. The Porsche 936 went on to win the 24 Heures du Mans in 1981, coinciding with the firm’s 50th anniversary.

This powerful partnership between TUDOR and Porsche Motorsport strengthens the bonds between two brands with an outstanding track record. A perfect synergy that paves the way for exhilarating racing moments.

ALL CIRCUITS

1. 

   MELBOURNE

2. 

   SHANGHAI

3. 

   ISTANBUL

4. 

   BARCELONA

5. 

   MONACO

6. 

   VALENCIA

7. 

   SILVERSTONE

8. 

   NÜRBURGRING

9. 

   BUDAPEST

10. 

    SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

11. 

    MONZA

12. 

    SINGAPORE

13. 

    SUZUKA

14. 

    ABU DHABI