TAG Heuer Heritage Ambassador with Patrick Dempsey

I love the racing,I love the people,I love the world,I love the physical and the mental challenge,the sigths,the smells and the history.It's a great way of looking at life and time as well.When you're present,when you're in the moment,you get the most out of life.When you're in a race car,if you're thinking about the last lap,the mistakes you made,or a certain corner that you're having trouble with,it takes you out of your moment;then your mistakes compound themselves.It's a tremendous sport,in the sense that you're always chasing time to get better,and the Autavia just owes itself to racing,which is really a beautiful part of the story. I came to TAG Heuer through racing,as a sponsor of my car at Le Mans, with Porsche.TAG Heuer is the ultimate in sponsorship,because of its legacy,its tradition and Mr Heuer's contribution.We owe a lot to what he did,and his passion for the sport,and it all started with that watch.

Mr Heuer was a great influence within the racing community and also within the watch industry,so it was amazing for me to meet this legendary figure.I went through the factory with Mr Heuer,and as well as watches and motorsport we talked about the history of Alpine skiing.He was a champion skier,and when I was very young all I wanted to do was be a really good skier,and that's how I got started.I've always raced.I've always felt the most comfortable with speed or competition.And talking with Mr Heuer I understood the connection between TAG Heuer and that attitude.

I went around the museum with him and he explained each piece to me.For me,personally,my favourite watches are the vintage watches.I have a vintage Monaco watch from the early 1970s.They are delicate and not the same as the contemporary ones,but there's a special feeling and an emotional connection that comes with wearing a vintage watch.I am a fan of the new Autavia,but I am also looking to buy a vintage one: the beauty of the chase and the quest to find the watch that you're loking for is part of the appeal.

It's the same when you have an old car,you pull up some place and you share your experience of how you found the car,what you've done to the car,what the quirks are,and you have a great dialogue,a great encounter,and you can do that with watches.There's soul in those old watches.You understand that when you hear their story,and I think Mr Biver is very smart in bringing Mr Heuer forward to tell this story;there is no one better to explain the great past of this company,and understanding the past is important because from the past comes the future.

“Racing's important to men who do it well.When you're racing, It's life.Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.”So says Michael Delaney,the character played by Steve McQueen in Le Mans.It was a sentiment which McQueen himself would have related to ,and it certainly resonates with Patrick Dempsey.Actor by profession,you will have seen him in everything from Grey's Anatomy to Bridget Jones's Baby;he is a racing driver by vocation.As eponym of Dempsey Racing,he has driven competitively in the legendary 24-hour endurance races of Le Mans and Daytona,and has a taste for vintage mechanics both automotive and horological.