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_Patrick Dempsey celebrates TAG Heuer’s iconic Autavia

There are actors who dabble in a bit of motor racing, using their financial freedom and celebrity to indulge in an activity that gives them an adrenaline blast like no other. With Patrick Dempsey there is nothing so half-hearted as dabbling, he is deadly serious about it.
September 18, 2017

Patrick Dempsey celebrates TAG Heuer’s iconic Autavia

Lifestyle

There are actors who dabble in a bit of motor racing, using their financial freedom and celebrity to indulge in an activity that gives them an adrenaline blast like no other. With Patrick Dempsey there is nothing so half-hearted as dabbling, he is deadly serious about it.

September 18, 2017

In fact, he is so deeply into motor racing that it might appear  to the casual observer that driving is his main occupation, and acting is  just something he does in his spare time.

Dempsey, 51, began his career on the stage, before landing lead roles in 1980s romantic comedies such as Can’t Buy Me Love and Heaven Help Us. But the role that brought superstardom was as Dr Derek ‘McDreamy’ Shepherd in Grey’s Anatomy. Appearing in hundreds of episodes of the award- winning TV medical drama made Dempsey a household name, and as well as being lauded for his acting, he also became a regular feature on various ‘sexiest man  alive’  lists.

But years before Grey’s Anatomy, Dempsey started his  own  GT  racing team –  Dempsey-Proton Racing –which  saw  him  quickly gain acclaim for  his skills behind the wheel.

In 2014, he said: ‘It’s all-consuming in many ways. I couldn’t imagine not racing right now. It really keeps me motivated. It’s all I  think about on  a  daily basis.’ The following year  would be  his  most successful to  date,  with Dempsey and  his  co-drivers finishing second in class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and first in class in the Fuji round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.


The combination of Dempsey’s high profile and his success on the track make him a perfect choice as an ambassador for TAG Heuer, the watch company with an unbeatable motor sport reputation of its own. This year Dempsey has been closely involved with the company’s celebration of the   55th anniversary of the Autavia.

The original 1962 watch, the first wrist chronograph with a rotating bezel, took its name from the Heuer dash counters first made for racing cars and aircraft back in the 1930s. The watch was worn by many of the biggest F1 drivers in the 1960s, such as Jochen Rindt, Mario Andretti and Jo Siffert.

 
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As part of the anniversary celebrations, TAG Heuer has produced a new version, a tribute to the original with modern touches and  an  in-house movement. It is this new Autavia that Dempsey is wearing in a short film, which he also directed, paying tribute to Jack Heuer,  the  TAG  Heuer honorary chairman who created the original Autavia back in 1962. Along with seemingly non- stop Hollywood commitments and his ongoing racing career, it is clear that spare time is not a  concept he understands.

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