Formula 1’s luxury-watch map has been redrawn again. Girard-Perregaux, one of Switzerland’s oldest watchmakers, has signed a multi-year deal to become the Official Watch Partner of the Atlassian Williams F1 Team, beginning with the 2026 season. It’s a notable reshuffle: Girard-Perregaux arrives at Williams after concluding its Formula 1 partnership with Aston Martin, and steps into a role the British watchmaker Bremont last held at the team.
Girard-Perregaux has become the Official Watch Partner of the Atlassian Williams F1 Team in a multi-year partnership beginning with the 2026 Formula 1 season, moving to Williams after concluding its previous F1 partnership with Aston Martin.
What’s unusual is how the two sides chose to introduce it. Rather than leading with a co-branded watch, the customary opening move in these deals, Girard-Perregaux and Williams launched the partnership on an idea they call “Pure Purpose.” The argument is that Haute Horlogerie and Formula 1 share a hidden foundation: most of the work that matters- the preparation, testing, adjustment, and repetition- happens long before anything becomes visible, and it comes from people rather than machines. “Attention to detail is not a detail,” the brands put it. “It is the work itself.”
Girard-Perregaux brings real credibility to that message. Founded in 1791, it is among the oldest names in Swiss watchmaking, celebrated for the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges and, in a more contemporary register, the Laureato, its integrated-bracelet sports watch. Moving into the paddock puts that heritage of precision engineering on one of the most demanding stages there is.
Williams is a fitting counterpart for a heritage brand. One of Formula 1’s most storied teams, with nine Constructors’ Championships to its name, it has entered a new era under title sponsor Atlassian and a leadership rebuild aimed at returning it to the front of the grid. For a team rediscovering its ambition, a partner defined by patience and craft is an apt match.
The deal also reflects how thoroughly the watch world has moved into Formula 1. TAG Heuer now serves as the sport’s official timekeeper, Richard Mille and IWC field high-profile team tie-ups, and the grid has become one of luxury watchmaking’s most contested arenas. Girard-Perregaux’s arrival at Williams marks another shift, signaling that the brand intends to compete for attention well beyond the boutique.
For now, there is no team watch to show, only a stated intention to build something lasting through what the partners call “genuine exchange” between their people. A co-branded timepiece will almost certainly follow. But the opening statement is about values rather than product, which, for a 235-year-old house that has always argued the work matters more than the reveal, is a fitting way to begin.
