When Laurent Ferrier unveiled the Sport Auto collection in 2022, it not only marked the birth of a new line, but also the culmination of a story decades in the making – one written in speed, endurance, sweat, and camaraderie. The debut Sport Auto Blue was a love letter to endurance racing and Genevan fine watchmaking. In its latest iteration, rendered entirely in Grade 5 titanium, the Sport Auto Blue Titanium takes that same narrative of precision, resilience, and understated beauty, expressing it in its purest, lightest form. More than a sports watch, it embodies two passions – motorsport and horology – and an enduring friendship that transformed an offhand quip into one of Switzerland’s most respected independent maisons.
THE RACE THAT STARTED IT ALL
To understand the Sport Auto Blue Titanium, one must first go back to June 9, 1979, to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans – one of motorsport’s most gruelling tests of human endurance and mechanical engineering. On the Circuit de la Sarthe, Laurent Ferrier – then an accomplished watchmaker at Patek Philippe – lined up alongside his close friend François Servanin and teammate Francois Trisconi in their Porsche 935 Turbo. The tension was electric. Starting 20th on the grid, the trio faced 24 punishing hours of relentless speed and fatigue. They completed 292 laps and covered almost 4,000 kilometres at full tilt, hitting 312 km/h down the Mulsanne Straight, battling through a rain-soaked night before a blazing sunrise, and making 24 pit stops for tyre and driver changes, refuelling and repairs.
When the chequered flag fell the next day, the team stood third overall – just behind Paul Newman – an astonishing feat for three amateur drivers. The experience was life-changing. In the heady hours after the finish, Ferrier gifted Servanin a Patek Philippe Nautilus – the quintessential luxury sports watch of its time. Laughing, Servanin replied, “What if after this feat, we continued the adventure as a team by making our own watch?”
It was a joke born of euphoria and exhaustion, but one that stayed with them. Life took both men in different directions – Ferrier continued his career at Patek Philippe, and Servanin built his own automotive firm – yet that moment at Le Mans remained a shared touchstone between friends. In 2009, three decades on and both well into their sixties, the quip finally became a promise fulfilled. Ferrier and Servanin launched Maison Laurent Ferrier in Geneva, driven by the same ideals that guided them on the track: precision, endurance, and grace under pressure.
In that spirit, the first Sport Auto is the timepiece Ferrier and Servanin wished they could have worn during their races. Sleek, aerodynamic and beautifully balanced, it’s a bridge between the automotive world that shaped them and the watchmaking realm that defined them.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SPEED AND ELEGANCE
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