MOTO-GALLERY
TIMING ON THE TRACK
Tissot has been the official timekeeper of MotoGP,
motorcycling’s top echelon of racing, for 15 years
Tissot is no stranger to timing sporting events in which
every millisecond counts. As the official timekeeper of MotoGP
since 2001, the company has played a crucial role in developing
a complex system for ensuring that an abundance of highly
accurate data legitimizes the outcome of every MotoGP Race.
The Le Locle-based watchmaker is a member of the
Swatch Group, the largest horological company in the world. In
addition to manufacturing timepieces of a staggering diversity,
from the humble Swatch watch to the luxury marques Breguet
and Harry Winston, the group operates Swiss Timing Ltd., a
division wholly dedicated to implementing sports performance
timing systems. Most watch collectors have never heard of
Swiss Timing, and why would they? It’s not a brand in the
proper sense. It is, however, an industry leader that has allowed
Tissot to bring innovative electronic timing technology to
bear over the long course of its partnership with MotoGP.
As the highest echelon of motorcycle racing in the world—
86
WRISTWATCH | 2016
BY JON ATH AN BUE S
the F1 of bikes, if you will—MotoGP races are held only at the
major racing venues around the world. MotoGP and Tissot are
responsible for bringing their own timing system with them from
track to track as the season progresses. And the system itself is
a highly complex one complete with built-in redundancies. And
fittingly for the current media landscape, transponders mounted
on the bikes themselves allow for racing aficionados to monitor
races on their phones, computers and tablets via an official MotoGP
app that gets its information directly from the timing system.
WristWatch had a rare opportunity to see how Tissot manages
its responsibility for timing the world’s oldest motorsport world
championship during the second race of the 2015 MotoGP series, in
Austin, Texas, home of the state-of-the-art Circuit of the Americas.
Our behind-the-scenes immersion in the world of MotoGP
included an in-depth seminar on just what constitutes 21st century
motorsport timing, along with a tour of the Circuit of the Americas,
one of the newest, state-of-the-art tracks in the sport. (It also