Goodwood’s Festival of Speed is one of the Meccas for car people. There are few other places where a priceless pre-war racer, a modern Formula 1 car, a rally legend and an electric fan car can all share same narrow driveway in front of an English country house. That makes TAG Heuer a fairly natural partner for the event. For the second year of the watchmaker’s role as Goodwood’s Official Timing Partner, the two have created the TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph x Goodwood Festival of Speed, a British Racing Green automatic chronograph limited to 500 pieces.
It follows the Carrera Chronograph produced for the 2025 event, although the Formula 1 collection arguably makes more sense this time around. Being the louder, more sporting side of TAG Heuer’s catalogue, the watch looks more like something designed for a day wandering between Goodwood’s paddocks.
British Racing Green, naturally
The Goodwood edition is based on TAG Heuer’s existing 44mm Formula 1 Chronograph, so there has been no attempt to make it subtle, thanks to the extensive use of green. The sunray brushed dial and ceramic bezel are finished in British Racing Green, referencing both the Goodwood Estate and one of the most recognisable colours in British motorsport. Over the years it has appeared on everything from Bentleys and Jaguars to Aston Martins, Lotuses and Minis, making it an easy fit for a watch celebrating Goodwood’s unusually broad view of automotive history.
Against that green background are three silver chronograph registers with concentric azurage texturing. The 30 minute counter sits at 12 o’clock, the 12 hour counter at six and the running seconds display at nine, while the date window occupies the three o’clock position. The applied hour markers and main hands are treated with white Super-LumiNova, while red is used across the central chronograph hand, the start-and-stop pusher and other smaller details. The contrasting colours make the dial quite busy, but this is hardly the watch for someone seeking minimalist Scandinavian calm.
There is also one very specific flash of red on the seconds track. The marker at 39 seconds acknowledges the outright Goodwood hillclimb record set by Max Chilton in the McMurtry Spéirling in 2022. Goodwood officially records the run at 39.08 seconds, during which the compact electric fan car covered the 1.86km course faster than any vehicle before it. The bezel receives another minor change. Instead of the conventional “TACHYMETER” label, it carries the rather more straightforward word “SPEED”, so no one forgets what the watch is celebrating.
A familiar automatic heart
Inside is TAG Heuer’s Calibre 16 automatic chronograph movement. It operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour and provides 48 hours of power reserve, with chronograph displays for quarter seconds, elapsed minutes and hours. It is a long serving movement, with familiar architecture and widespread use.
Turn it over and the solid steel caseback carries the Goodwood Festival of Speed logo, along with “Goodwood Festival of Speed Special Edition” and “One of 500” inscriptions. The latter means the watches are not individually numbered from one to 500, but all are identified as belonging to the limited production run. Priced at £4,250 and limited to 500 examples, it is a UK-exclusive release. Carrying the reference CAZ201K.BA0876, it’s only available through TAG Heuer’s British retail network.
At 44mm, it will also be large and visually busy for some wrists. The Calibre 16’s 48-hour reserve is relatively modest by current standards, particularly when TAG Heuer has other chronograph movements offering considerably longer reserves. The £4,250 price reflects the branding, limited run and event connection as much as the underlying mechanical specification.
As a piece of motorsport paraphernalia, however, it is considerably more interesting than another shirt, cup or branded cap. The green suits the Formula 1 case, the red 39 second marker is a cool touch, and a production run of 500 makes it limited without reducing availability to a purely symbolic handful.
