Since the dawn of time, Car Nerds and Watch Nerds have existed in harmony. People love watches for the same reasons we love cars: the mechanical action and functionality, the wide-ranging aesthetics, the ability to nerd out and flex on your friends and coworkers. It certainly helps when watch companies pair up with motorsports teams and their products are worn by famous Car Nerds, like Paul Newman and Steve McQueen.
Mercedes-AMG and Swiss watch brand IWC have had a partnership since 2004, resulting in numerous timepieces, motorsport sponsorships and the placement of an IWC clock in the dashboard of nearly every AMG product. But with Mercedes moving towards interiors featuring screens that can take up the whole dashboard and thus can’t accommodate a physical clock, the carmaker’s designers found a new solution. In new models like the 2023 Mercedes-AMG EQE sedan I recently drove, a digital recreation of an IWC watch can be shown in the main display, and it’s sure to send some people into a rage spiral.
Specifically, the digital stopwatch looks like the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41, which starts at around $7,600 and uses a design that traces back to the 1930s. In addition to the main face, the watch features smaller dials that count hours, minutes and seconds, as well as a day and date display. All of those features work in the AMG’s digital version, and you even control the watch the same way. That’s right: You press the top “pusher” button on the right side to start and pause the timer, and hit the lower pusher to reset the stopwatch. (There are also separate start/stop and reset buttons below the watch on the touchscreen, but where’s the fun in that?) When the timer is active, the hour and minute dials are illuminated and the main face is used to show the seconds, with a digital readout also at the top of the screen. If you aren’t using the timer, the watch shows the time like normal.
In addition to the digital stopwatch, AMGs are available with a Track Pace app that brings legit telemetry to the car. It records 80 different data points like acceleration, braking, overall speed and steering inputs when on a race track. The data can be viewed in the car or on a smartphone, where you can also look at your lap and sector times and compare them to a reference lap. Green and red overlays are shown on the track maps in real time on the center screen, gauge cluster or head-up display, so you can quickly glance at how you’re doing while lapping the track.
The AMG EQE sedan and SUV are the first cars to get the new stopwatch, but it will be added via software updates on most existing AMG models running the latest MBUX infotainment, as well as new models like the plug-in-hybrid S63. I wouldn’t be surprised to see different clock designs in the future depending on the model – someone buying a $300,000-plus AMG GT would probably own a fancier watch than the owner of a sub-$100,000 car, right?
But if you’re a Watch Nerd reading this, don’t worry: There are still some carmakers that include real, physical clocks and stopwatches in their new vehicles. Porsche offers multiple different designs and customization options with its Sport Chrono clock, and some special editions have even gotten design details to match the watch that comes with the car. The Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur can be optioned with a rotating dashboard display, with one of the sides featuring three dials for outside temperature, compass and stopwatch. Rolls-Royces are available with a few different clock designs built into the dashboard, with the option to create something totally custom. The coachbuilt Boat Tail even comes with a unique wristwatch that can be placed into the dashboard to become the car’s own clock, the ultimate automotive timepiece integration.