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FOR IWC, NICO ROSBERG SWAPS RACE SUIT FOR WATCHMAKER’S WHITE COAT

Munich, 13 December 2013 – At a media event organized by Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen, brand ambassador Nico Rosberg replaced his customary race suit with a white coat and – as a participant in an exclusive watchmaking course – demonstrated his feel for technology and precision craftsmanship. The FORMULA ONE driver chatted to journalists about his personal affinity with IWC as well as the features common to motor racing and watchmaking.

Nico Rosberg may have made it to the top in motor racing’s supreme discipline, but has he got the manual skills it takes to be a watchmaker? And how does a MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team driver, whose main pre¬occupation is slicing thousandths of a second off his lap times, feel about time in a more general sense? Under the watchful eye of a master watchmaker from IWC Schaffhausen, Nico Rosberg and a group of journalists went straight to the heart of a pocket watch. Dressed in white coats and equipped with loupes and tweezers, they care¬fully assembled a wheel train, barrel and barrel bridge, and crown wheel. Well versed as he is in technical matters, Rosberg made a good impression at the watchmaker’s bench. Concentrated and focused throughout, he finally succeeded in bringing his movement to life.

At home the world over

The exclusive watchmaking class was held as part of a media day at The Charles Hotel in Munich, where IWC Schaffhausen, Official Engineering Partner of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team since January 2013, received its brand ambassador Nico Rosberg. Selected journalists were given a deeper insight into the partnership between two companies that have dedicated themselves entirely to precision technology and top-flight engineering. Over lunch, the popular three-time Grand Prix victor provided a first-hand account of his everyday life as a FORMULA ONE driver who is in the spotlight 20 times a year at racing circuits all over the world.

High technology and craftsmanship

As a young man, the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team driver received an IWC watch from his father and has felt close ties with the luxury watch brand ever since. “For me, IWC watches combine not only complex technology and top-class performance but also passion and emotions,” said Rosberg during a podium discussion with IWC CEO Georges Kern, explaining the factors common to watch¬making and motor racing. “It’s a great honour for us to have Nico as our brand ambassador,” added Georges Kern. “He’s an outstanding individual with a dynamic personality, but he also has qualities such as team spirit, a yearning for perfection and progress, all coupled with the desire to give his very best. These are values we also cherish at IWC Schaffhausen.” The cooperation between the Swiss watch manufacturer and MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS is based on a mutual commitment to using their pioneering spirit and expertise to sound out the limits of mechanics. The result of this is the new Ingenieur watch collection from IWC, which, with its technical innovations and the use of materials typically found in motor racing, such as carbon fibre, ceramic and titanium aluminide, typifies the quest of both companies for perfection at the very highest level.


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