The Watches in the F1 Movie: Brad Pitt's IWC and Everything Else On Screen

Last updated: August 2026

IWC Schaffhausen is the watch partner of F1 The Movie, and Brad Pitt's character Sonny Hayes wears a one-off green-dial IWC Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832, a 1976 Gérald Genta design that Pitt supplied himself and had rebuilt for the role. IWC also appears as a sponsor of the fictional APXGP team, and the brand released four production watches off the back of the film, led by the 1,000-piece Ingenieur Automatic 40 Ref. IW328908 with the green grid dial.

The film opened on June 27, 2025 through Apple and Warner Bros., took $144 million worldwide in its first weekend (Deadline), and passed Napoleon as Apple's highest-grossing theatrical release (Variety, July 2025). Below is what is on screen, what IWC put on sale afterward, what the Rolex scene in the opening ten minutes is really about, and what the cast wore to the world premiere.

Brad Pitt's Watch: The Green IWC Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832

The watch Sonny Hayes wears for most of the film is a prop, and it started as Brad Pitt's own vintage watch. Pitt approached IWC before filming, handed over an Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832, and asked for it to be rebuilt for the character. Per Revolution, Pitt sent his specifications to IWC by email, down to the sage green dial and the slimmer case.

The donor watch matters here. The Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832 is Gérald Genta's Ingenieur, launched by IWC in 1976. It carries the round bezel with five recesses, an integrated H-link bracelet, and the textured dial pattern IWC now calls the "grid." Inside was the automatic calibre 8541 with Pellaton winding, mounted on rubber buffers and shielded by a soft-iron inner case rated to 80,000 A/m. The 1832 is nicknamed the "Jumbo," and it ran into the early 1980s in small numbers.

Pitt asked for the rebuilt watch to be roughly half as thick as the original. IWC took out the soft-iron cage, made a new case and caseback, and kept the original movement running. Cloister Watch Company in New York handled the surface finishing. Two examples were built so the production had a backup on set. Per IWC's press release, the green is Sonny Hayes's signature color. In the film the watch is a keepsake from his father.

IWC supplied roughly 100 watches to the film's costume department (Revolution), so the Ingenieur is far from the only IWC in frame. According to Tempus, Damson Idris wears a Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 TOP GUN in Ceratanium, Kerry Condon wears a Pilot's Watch Automatic 36 and a Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41, and Javier Bardem wears a Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar. Idris is the one point where the sources do not agree: IWC's own press release names the gold Pilot's Watch Performance Chronograph 41 for his character Joshua Pearce, so we are not going to pick one.

The IWC F1 Watches You Can Buy

The Ingenieur Pitt wears is a one-off, so IWC built a production version of it and three chronographs in APXGP team livery. The green Ingenieur launched at Watches and Wonders in April 2025.

IWC's press release names the gold Performance Chronograph 41 for Damson Idris's character Joshua Pearce. The two APXGP chronographs carry the team logo on the caseback. We left two of the retail cells blank above because we could not confirm a US figure for those references in a published source, and we would rather show nothing than a number we cannot stand behind.

Worth knowing before you buy one of the steel chronographs: WatchCharts had the 41mm APXGP trading under its $7,500 list in early 2026. Movie tie-ins get made in commercial numbers, and the secondary market prices them that way. The green Ingenieur is the one with a hard cap at 1,000 pieces.

The Rolex Daytona That Opens the Movie

The first ten minutes of the film are set at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Sonny Hayes co-drives a Porsche to a class win, then leaves the podium without collecting the winner's watch, with the line "already have a watch." The watch is never named on screen.

The prize is real. Rolex has been the title partner of the Daytona 24-hour since 1992, and every class-winning driver receives a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona with an engraved caseback, per IMSA, Daytona International Speedway and Rolex's own newsroom. Daytona International Speedway extended that relationship again in January 2026 (IMSA). The Cosmograph itself dates to 1963 and takes its name from the speedway, which is what makes that opening scene land for anyone who knows the race.

So the film's first watch beat is a Rolex beat, even though the on-screen sponsorship belongs to IWC. If you want the watch Sonny walks away from, that is the Cosmograph Daytona.

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What the Cast Wore to the Premiere

The world premiere ran in Times Square, New York on June 16, 2025, and the most-covered watch on the carpet was the star's, which was not an IWC. Brad Pitt turned up in a vintage Patek Philippe Ref. 2526 from the 1950s, white enamel dial on a yellow gold bracelet, and wore no IWC at all (Robb Report; Esquire).

Two are worth pulling out. George Russell wore the green Ingenieur limited edition, which is the film's halo watch. And Lando Norris wore the RM 72-01, Richard Mille's in-house flyback chronograph. We go through the rest of his collection in our Lando Norris watch collection guide.

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The flyback is the racing complication proper: one press resets and restarts the timing hand, which is how you time consecutive laps. Browse our flyback chronographs if that mechanism is what you are after.

Who Actually Times Formula 1

The film invents a watch sponsor for an invented team, so it is easy to mix up with the real arrangement. TAG Heuer became Formula 1's Official Timekeeper from the 2025 season, taking over from Rolex, which had held the Official Timepiece title, as part of LVMH's ten-year partnership with the sport (Formula 1; Monochrome, January 2025). TAG Heuer has history there: it put the first luxury watch logo on an F1 car in 1969 and became the first watch brand to sponsor a team in 1971.

IWC's own Formula 1 relationship has been with Mercedes-AMG Petronas, which is why the APXGP branding on the cars, race suits, helmets and garage reads as authentic. It is what IWC already does in the real paddock. Lewis Hamilton produced the film through his Dawn Apollo Films and served as a technical advisor, and IWC announced its involvement alongside him (Time+Tide).

For what the current grid wears away from the movie set, start with our guide to what Formula 1 drivers actually wear, then read the individual collections for Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Sources: IWC Schaffhausen's press release (film partnership, APXGP references and specifications, prop watch brief); Revolution (Cloister Watch Company build, ~100 watches to costume); Monochrome (Ingenieur Automatic 40 edition size and launch, TAG Heuer timekeeping); Tempus (per-character IWC list); Fratello and IWC's archive (Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832 history); IMSA and Rolex's newsroom (Rolex 24 At Daytona winners' watch and the January 2026 extension); Formula 1 (TAG Heuer Official Timekeeper from 2025, and the 1969 and 1971 firsts); Robb Report and Esquire (New York premiere); Time+Tide (Lewis Hamilton's producer role); Deadline and Variety (box office). Retail figures are as published by the brand or in press coverage; where we could not confirm one we left it blank rather than quote a dealer listing. Watches Off 5th is an independent pre-owned and grey-market dealer with no authorized-dealer relationship, so we quote retail from public sources and do not set it. Secondary values move with condition, year, accessories and dealer. We do not sell TAG Heuer; it appears here because it is the sport's timing partner. Nothing here is financial advice.