Ayrton Senna’s watch winds up in a museum

One man who has a unique perspective on the events of that weekend in May 1994 is Mike Vogt, who experienced the tragedy of Ayrton Senna’s death first-hand as both his friend and as marketing manager of Senna’s partner watch brand, TAG Heuer.

Vogt, now 60, was a Formula 1 fan when he landed his dream job with TAG Heuer, which was at the beginning of its new role as the sport’s official timing partner.

“It was essential to develop personal relationships with drivers,” recalls Vogt. “That included supplying them with watches; in return they would talk with our customers on race weekends.

“At the time, both he and his manager, Celso Lemos, were keen to develop the Senna brand to ensure he had an income after he retired from racing. It was because of this that they came up with the brilliant slogan ‘Driven to Perfection’ and devised the Senna ‘S’ logo.

“Our idea was to make a special watch and Senna suggested featuring a chequered flag pattern on the dial together with a red S.”

A prototype was duly made and supplied to Senna, who was wearing it on the fateful weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

“I remember he was behaving very strangely,” recalls Vogt. “Usually he was relaxed, but the death of Roland Ratzenburger in qualifying and Rubens Barrichello’s terrible crash had really got to him – along with the fact that, although he subsequently qualified in pole position, he really felt he needed a miracle to win in the Williams.”

The day before the race, Senna invited Vogt to his motorhome to talk about the series of watches and during the conversation Vogt explained that, as much as he wanted to buy one, TAG Heuer rules forbade staff from doing so.

“It was at that point that he took the prototype off his wrist, handed it to me and said he wanted me to have it,” Vogt recalls.

Vogt and a clutch of TAG Heuer clients were beside Senna as he sat in his car on the starting grid on the day of the race, and Vogt recalls how he seemed perturbed. After the accident Vogt drove to Switzerland, crying for most of the journey.

“Back at the manufacture there were suggestions that we should abandon the Senna watch project,” says Vogt. “But I felt I had made a commitment to him to make it a success, so we came up with a solution: make 1000 pieces in each of three sizes and donate some of the proceeds to the Instituto Ayrton Senna, which his family set up six months after his death.”

Vogt kept the prototype given to him by Senna under lock and key. In January, however, Vogt handed the watch over to TAG Heuer’s heritage director so it could take pride of place in a Senna display in the brand’s freshly refurbished museum.

“A Japanese collector contacted me a while ago to enquire about buying it, but it was clear that it had to go to the museum – and I’m very happy it has ended up there,” adds Vogt. “It’s where it belongs. I could have made money by selling the prototype but that was never a consideration. Once the watch is on display in the museum, I can go to see it whenever I want. And I will.”