Enicar allready cooperated with racing drivers and teams in the early 1960s to promote their watches. Of course chronographs were toolwatches for timing and pushing the drivers abilities to the limit. Hence Heuer dominated the stop watches market, Enicar focussed on the person behind the steering wheel.
In the following I want to list the drivers who were directly connected to Enicar as testimonial or by beeing sponsored by the company. A more focussed Blog post about the Sherpa Graph and the Formula 1 you can find here:
1960s Formula 1 drivers and the Enicar Sherpa Graph
Hey Enicaristi, thanks to new sources and more and more digitalized pictures research is easier than ever. During my Jim Clark Reference research I screened thousands of motorsport and racing pics. Luckily I didn’t just found Jim Clark related Enicar images. Some connections, like the Jim Clark and Stirling Moss ones are widely known. But…
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (born 17.09.1929) is a British former Formula 1 who is known as “the greatest driver never to win the World Championchip”. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of competition.
He was directly involved with Enicar as a testimonial doing ads and interviews in favor of the company.
More on this topic, you can find in the blog:
Stirling Moss and his “Stirling Moss”
The name that is mostly attached to the first of all Sherpa Graphs is the one of the famous F1 driver Stirling Moss. Though we have seen him in the Enicar ads and also in the Enicar house magazine “Saturn” wearing a Sherpa Graph, until now there were no pictures public showing him wearing an…
Jim Clark
James Clark, Jr (4.3.1936 – 7.4.1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965 and the Indy 500 in 1965. He was mostly known for driving with the Lotus racing team.
Clark was killed in a Formula Two racing accident in 1968 in Hockenheim, Germany. At the time of his death at age 32, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver.
Like Stirling Moss he was an official testimonial for Enicar. Compared to Stirling its is also known, that Jim really uses his Enicar Sherpa Graph Chronograph. Many pics proof this. He also gifted some of them to his team for winning the Championship in 1963.
More on this topic, you can find in the blog:
The correct reference of Jim Clarks Sherpa Graph
Almost every month we see at least two or three Sherpa Graph watches for sale, that are offered as “Jim Clark”. Of course we know of the connection between Jim Clark and Enicar, but does this make every Sherpa Graph a Jim Clark? Well I say no and in this article I will tell you…
Erik Carlsson
Erik Hilding Carlsson (5.3.1929 – 27.5.2015) was a Swedish rally driver for Saab. He was nicknamed “Carlsson på taket” (“Carlsson on the roof”) as well as Mr. Saab .
The motorsport community sees in him the first world star of rally racing. He dominated this field from 1955 – 1965. His biggest success was the winning of the Rallye Monte Carlo in 1962 and 1963. He is also Husband of Pat Moss, the younger sister of Stirling Moss.
Erik was directly involved in marketing for Enicar. In this Swedish ad he praises the advantages of his Enicar watch.
More on Carlsson I wrote here:
Swedish racing quartet
I allready wrote something in the racing section about Erik Carlsson, the famous Swedish Rallye Driver. Lately I found some more Enicar ads in a Swedish newspaper online archive, that I want to show you. It is a great example how Enicar used testemonials and buid a series of ads around them. The other drivers…
Geoff Duke
Geoffrey Ernest Duke (29.3.1923 – 1.5.2015) was a British multiple motorcycle Grand Prix road racing world champion. Duke was a prominent figure in racing in the 1950s, winning six world championships and six Isle of Man TT races.
Since is active carrer was mainly in the 50s, I suppose he was the first racing testimonial for Enicar.
Trevor Taylor
Trevor Taylor (26.12.1936 – 27.9.2010) was a British Formula 1 driver from England. He was not directly sponsored by Enicar but appeared in a late 60s edition of the Chronosport catalog with an Enicar Sherpa Jet Graph.
Dane Rowe
Dane Rowe was racing sidecar racings together with her husband Rudi Kurth in the 1960s and 70s. Since Rudi was Swiss, they were looking for a local sponsor. Enicar helped them out, of course, with watches. (Though the watch on Dane’s iconic pic isnt an Aqua Graph, but something more like a Croton BWC, see more here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaNK_bKMhWj/ )
Enicar 101 