The high-powered cars no longer roar, the paddocks are empty and the streets of Monaco have been handed back to local residents. Time for the VIPs to pack their cases, their ears buzzing and their eyes full of stars. TAG Heuer - partner since 2011 of Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), which organizes the prestigious Grand Prix of that name - turned the three days of the race into an out-of-this-world experience, both on the racetrack and on the sidelines. This Grand Prix in fact is the only one where the raw energy of the sporting arena and the refinement of the cosmopolitan crowd come together to form such an elegant whole.

La Chaux-de-Fonds, 29 May 2012 –The party began on a yacht in the brand colours moored in the port of Monaco, where TAG Heuer greeted guests from all over the world, and the trade press, at a cocktail buffet to welcome Swiss-French rider Romain Grosjean into the extended family of brand Ambassadors. It was also the moment chosen to announce, in the presence of ACM Commissioner General Michel Ferry, the renewal of the TAG Heuer - Automobile Club de Monaco partnership. Alain Prost, a long standing friend of the brand, Bastian Baker, a promising young Swiss singer, TV stars Denis Brogniart and Marion Jollès, standing on the Grand Prix podium, took advantage of the bewitching light of the setting sun as dusk fell on the Rock to spend time in conjecture about the F1 season, which is hotly disputed this year.

The following day, the guests were able to enjoy the unrivalled view from the TAG Heuer private box as they watched the qualifying laps. TAG Heuer had placed its banners all round the racetrack, its advertisements were displayed on giant screens, and its yacht towered over the port. The Avant-garde Manufacture spared no effort in organising this celebration of its source of inspiration for a hundred years: speed in general and car racing in particular. In the evening, F1 stars and VIPs flocked back to the TAG Heuer yacht, where Francesco Trapani, President of the LVMH Watch and Jewellery Division, and Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer President & CEO, greeted the 2009 World Champion Jenson Button. Beside him was girlfriend Jessica Michibata, as well as James Spithill, the helmsman of Oracle Team USA, Defender of the 34^th America’s Cup, and director Ron Howard, whose films include the “Da Vinci Code”, who was on the lookout for material for his next feature film, a biopic about a certain Niki Lauda.

This array of celebrities had the pleasure of seeing for the first time the limited series of Carrera Monaco Grand Prix and Monaco Automobile Club chronographs that pay tribute to the TAG Heuer - A.C.M. partnership. They were also privileged to see a Monaco Cal.11 and a new Monaco 24 - timepieces that constitute a further development of the legendary range.

Jimmy Spithill had the chance to meet with the hero of the day, the winner of this 2012 edition, Mark Webber. 

Once again, the general conclusion of everyone present was as Jean-Christophe Babin often says: “Car-racing is in our blood”.

In partnership with Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) since 2011, the organiser of the prestigious Grand Prix of that name, TAG Heuer is preparing to celebrate - on the Rock and in style - its long love affair with speed and with legendary drivers and teams. A new name has also just been added to the list of the Manufacture’s Avant-Garde ambassadors: Romain Grosjean.

Monaco, 26 May 2012 –TAG Heuer welcomed selected guests onto a yacht in the brand colours moored in the port of Monaco to share a weekend that should take every prize for stylish sophistication. The stuff of the Monaco legend is of course the race itself, and its fabulous racetrack in the town centre, its winners with names that resound in the ears of all Formula1 lovers – but it is also the walk of a famous actress or princess as she goes up the pit lane, the sparkle of the golden champagne flowing in the Grandstand boxes and the elegance of a wide-brimmed hat concealing yet revealing a face : in Monaco, the show is as much on the sidelines as on the racetrack… In a word, this Grand Prix is to Formula1 what Cannes is to cinema : its most glamorous expression.

That is why TAG Heuer decided to associate its name with the event and make it a red-letter day in its season. Jean-Christophe Babin, President & CEO of TAG Heuer, standing beside Michel Ferry, the Grand Prix Race Director and Commissaire Général de l’Automobile Club de Monaco, announced to the press gathered for the occasion that the partnership with Automobile Club de Monaco had been renewed for a number of years and that a limited series of Carrera and Monaco chronographs, featuring the Grand Prix and Automobile Club de Monaco emblem respectively, will be launched to celebrate this.

“TAG Heuer is THE essential brand for the most prestigious racetracks and the best known races” declared Jean-Christophe Babin. ”Thanks to our partnerships with ACM for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, with Audi Sport for Le Mans, the endurance races and the DTM, as well as our major role as long-standing Official Timekeeper of the Indy 500, TAG Heuer is in pole position on all fronts!”

In the presence of Alain Prost, a long-standing friend of the brand, Jean-Christophe Babin also announced that Romain Grosjean will now be a personal ambassador of the brand and thus sharing the limelight with other big names in Formula1, such as Joe Siffert and Juan-Manuel Fangio in the past or Jenson Button and Lewis Hilton today. “I am flattered to be joining the family of TAG Heuer Ambassadors and especially to be adding my name to a saga dedicated to performance and precision” said Romain Grosjean. The young Swiss-French driver is actually going back to his roots since he wore the colours of the Swiss brand back in 2009. With the 2011GP2 Series Champion title in his pocket, Romain has already shown brilliant form at the beginning of the new season, with outstanding qualifying races and third place in Bahrain.