The Insider’s top 10 motorsport-inspired watches

Two words: ‘Steve McQueen’.

That’s all you need to know as to why this remarkable watch has earned our number one spot.

McQueen loved his motorsport, and when he landed the lead role in the film Le Mans he wanted to appear as authentically as possible, choosing a race suit adorned with the ‘Chronographe Heuer’ logo as worn by his friend and mentor (and real life racing driver) Jo Siffert. For a watch to go with the look, McQueen chose the Heuer Monaco, a ground-breaking square faced automatic watch with distinctive blue coloring and domed glass.

Named for the Monaco Grand Prix and already a press sensation, the McQueen association catapulted the watch to iconic status, making it a coveted collector’s piece as well as a mainstay of the TAG Heuer range to this day. Historical examples of the Monaco go for serious money but the greatest prize of all, the watch actually worn by McQueen in Le Mans (and presented by the actor to his chief mechanic) sold at auction in 2020 for a cool $2.2 million!

For European sports car fans, the Le Mans 24 Hours is the landmark event of the season. For Americans, it’s the Rolex 24 at Daytona, held every January at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Winning this feat of endurance brings global prestige, but for the champion drivers perhaps even more coveted are the trophies: uniquely engraved Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona watches.

The prizes celebrate an enduring partnership between the event organizers and the watchmaker. In 1962, Rolex became the official timekeeper for the race. A year later, the company released the “Cosmograph Daytona”, which broke new ground by adding a tachymeter on the bezel, along with contrasting dial/sub-dial coloring that gave the watch the character of a race car instrument panel.

As with the TAG Heuer Monaco, a sprinkle of Hollywood stardust contributed significantly to the Rolex Daytona’s status. In this case it was Paul Newman, who wore a Daytona on and off the track in the Formula 1 inspired movie Winning. During the filming Newman’s wife and co-star, the actress Joanne Woodward, gave him a special edition of the Daytona featuring a stunning cream dial with black sub-dials. So coveted did this variant become that Newman’s original piece remains the most expensive watch ever traded, having sold at auction in 2017 for $17.8 million! A similar color variant is still offered today by Rolex.

Richard Mille is a name that has emerged from nowhere to become intimately associated with motorsport at all levels. If you follow international motor racing, you’ll see the brand everywhere – whether as title sponsor of the Le Mans Classic, partner to Formula 1 teams including Ferrari and McLaren, or through Richard Mille’s extracurricular role as Chairman of the FIA’s Endurance Commission.

The company’s first watch, the RM 001 Tourbillon, was released only in 2001, but a mere quarter of a century later its timepieces can now be found on the wrists of Formula 1 royalty, including both current McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, as well as Lewis Hamilton.

It’s the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, though, who has been the brand’s most enduring ambassador. And that partnership was commemorated this year with the release of a special edition RM72-01 that carries Leclerc’s name and a distinctive red and white color scheme. The price? Like all Richard Mille watches, it’s very much in the ultra-luxury bracket at $330,000.

A sports car race on open roads? In Italy? With a course covering a thousand Roman miles (1,500 km)? Rather like the Paris-Dakar Rally and Carrera Panamericana, the most iconic events in motorsport are very often the craziest.

That the Mille Miglia managed 24 competitive editions before the curtain came down in 1957 is remarkable, given the carnage involved. Those 24 events cost a total of 56 lives, with 24 of those being drivers/co-drivers and 32 being spectators.

That said, the event also created its own legend, drawing many of the era’s most celebrated drivers, including Juan Manuel Fangio, Hans Herrmann and Stirling Moss. It also – ahead of its time – adopted a strikingly simple logo which is close to design perfection. And it’s the adoption of this logo which makes Chopard’s Mille Miglia watch range so alluring, helping the brand to earn a place in our top 10 list.

Your Editor’s personal favorite of the current range is the GTS Chrono, which retails at just over $8,000. This self-winding automatic chronograph features red detailing, a rubber strap evoking a racing tire, and the tip of its crown adorned with a steering wheel emblem. Bellissimo!

Those stripes! One doesn’t even need to see the name Martini; the distinctive dark blue, light blue and red stripes are enough to make any motorsport fan go weak at the knees.

It all started in 1958 when the four Rossi di Montelera cousins, then owners of Martini & Rossi, founded the Martini International Club. All four cousins were passionate sportsmen, and so the club backed all manner of high level competitive disciplines, including winter sports, horse riding, golf, skiing and tennis. It was through motorsport that the company built its enduring legacy, however, with Martini-sponsored entrants winning in Formula 1, sports cars and the World Rally Championship.

The Martini colors, and the company’s racing heritage, are celebrated by Breitling with the Top Time Martini Racing. It’s a limited edition (750 pieces) variant of the iconic Top Time watch, a model variant that Willy Breitling launched in the 1960s and which has been brought back to life in recent years under the guidance of present CEO Georges Kern.

Retailing at $7,700, this sleek 38mm dial watch contains Breitling’s flagship Manufacture Caliber 01 – a COSC-certified chronometer – while featuring a perforated calfskin leather strap in the Martini dark blue. A watch that’ll turn heads any time, any place, anywhere…

The Omega Speedmaster will be forever linked to the Moon Landings, having been the only watch certified by NASA for space travel at that time. Buzz Aldrin wore his Speedmaster when he became the second man to walk on the Moon’s surface, Neil Armstrong having left his on board the lunar lander to stand in for a faulty electronic timer.

However, before its off-planet exploits the watch cut its teeth as an accurate timekeeping instrument at the racetrack. For example, Belgian driver Willy Mairesse wore one when racing in Formula 1 in the 1960s as well as in events such as the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Targa Florio, the latter of which he won in 1962.

The Speedmaster was also the watch of choice for the World Rally Champion of 1980 and 1982, Germany’s Walter Röhrl, while later on the brand collaborated with seven-times Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf.

It’s this history which Omega celebrates with the contemporary Speedmaster Racing series. Our pick of the current crop is this delicious chronometer with a matt black dial and black ceramic bezel, featuring the tachymeter scale in orange wording and Liquidmetal™ numbers. The watch is driven by the Omega Co-Axial Master Chronometer 9900, certified by METAS at the industry’s highest standard.

By the time you’ve finished reading the full name of this watch, Mercedes F1 driver George Russell is halfway round a lap of Silverstone!

That said, what the watch lacks in brevity of nomenclature is more than made up for in ‘kerb appeal’, with its visually striking green color scheme a nod to the racing team’s chief sponsor, PETRONAS.

As the official team watch for the 2025 F1 season, the Mark XX has been issued to every member of the Mercedes-AMG squad, from mechanics to strategists, while also being offered to the public at price of $6,400.

A rarity among our selection for not being a chronometer, the watch features an automatic self-winding movement, sapphire glass, and rubber strap that color-matches the dial numbers.

Though a little ‘niche’ in comparison to its four-wheeled sibling, motorcycle racing is nonetheless a hugely popular form of motorsport, with perhaps an even more devoted following.

So we couldn’t prepare this list without a nod to those brave enough to race on two wheels. Our selection represents the most important of all the international motorcycle championship series, MotoGP.

Tissot has been partner to this series for more than two decades and for 2025 the company has released a new series of watches, including this stunning Quartz Chronograph. A limited edition of 8,000 pieces, and priced at a very appealing $715, the watch features a chunky 45mm case with a brake-disc shaped bezel and engine cooling fins depicted on its side. It also boasts a MotoGP engraved caseback incorporating its edition number.

Last but not least, as a sucker for a bit of clever packaging, your Editor couldn’t help but be captivated by the nifty bike helmet case that the watch comes in.

For our last two selections, we’re venturing away from the ‘new’ market to pay homage to brands that have largely exited the motorsports arena, but not before leaving an indelible mark.

The first is Longines. Today the brand is intimately associated with sport on four legs: namely showjumping and horse racing. But for many decades in the 20th century, the company served as official timekeeper at countless international motor racing events, including the Formula 1 World Championship from 1982 to 1992, as well as the Indianapolis 500.

Longines was also a longtime partner of Ferrari, becoming official timekeeper in January 1980 – a role it retained for the eight years that followed. The partnership spawned a series of watches featuring the Ferrari name, many of which can still be found in the pre-owned marketplaces.

Numerous watchmakers have sponsored teams, drivers and races – but not many have attached their name and products to an entire championship series.

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That’s exactly what Swiss watchmaker Blancpain did between 2011 and 2019, as title sponsor for the Blancpain Endurance Series and later Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The latter series’ logo even featured a Blancpain watch: the L Evolution Chronograph Flyback à Rattrapante Grande Date, which is our selection to close out the top 10 list.

At a chunky 43.5 mm and featuring lashings of carbon fiber, this is a watch very much of its time. Among the highlights are a big date display that echoes the race position displays on cars competing in the Blancpain GT series, plus a very attractive black alcantara strap with carbon fiber inserts.

Blancpain only made 24 examples of this hugely purposeful and immensely desirable automatic chronograph, a handful of which can be found in selected pre-owned emporia, including here and here.