Universal Geneve Senna 41 Chronograph

The History

Ayrton Senna is a legend of auto racing. The Brazilian born Formula 1 driver, took to cars and racing early in his life. His father, also a racing enthusiast, saw this early passion in his son and gifted him his first go-cart at the age of 4. By the age of 8 he was driving the family car. Senna was a natural and set his sights on the highest form of motorsport. Through trial and tribulations, Ayrton would work his way through the ranks from carting to various formula series and eventually to Formula 1 in 1984. His debut in the sport was far from glorious though. The Toleman team that he was racing for was lagging in pace and even the great skill of Senna couldn’t put the car anywhere near the front of the pack. It wasn’t until Monaco, where Senna qualified 13th, that he would get an opportunity to show his true potential. On a dangerously rainy track Senna would take his car all the way up to second place, passing greats such as Lauda, Prost and Mansell along the way. That was the moment that his true skill became known to the world.

Senna would go on to race for Lotus, McLaren, and Williams and would win 41 races resulting in 3 world championships. Unfortunately, a terrible accident during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix would take the life of the great racing driver at the height of his career. His death would be mourned the world over and new safety precautions would be mandated by Formula 1 to mitigate future risks to drivers.

The Reference

Following the death of Ayrton Senna, his family would establish the Ayrton Senna Institute (IAS) to honor the great driver and his passion for the people of his home country of Brazil. The charity aims to bring high quality education to millions of Brazilian children and young people. In the late 1990’s Universal Geneve partnered with the IAS to create a series of watches that would honor Senna and produce charitable donations for the institute. These models would be known as the Senna 41 (number of Senna F1 wins), which was a chronograph and the Senna 65 (number of Senna F1 pole positions) which was the time only version. The watches were available in both quartz and mechanical versions as well as in stainless steel and gold. The version seen here is the quartz version of the Senna 41 with integrated bracelet.

The Case and Bracelet

The 40mm stainless steel and ‘carbon’ case is in excellent condition. It shows signs of normal wear and tear but no major defects to note. We placed carbon in quotations as it was originally listed by UG as carbon but is more aptly described as a plastic/rubber hardened with carbon. The watch comes on its original bracelet which also mixes these two materials and maintains all of its original links.

The Dial and Hands

The black dial with red and white accents is in excellent condition. Showing no scratches or defects to note and wearing all of its original parts. Its three sub dial layout is classic chronograph and the color choices speak to the racing inspired nature of the watch.

The Movement

This watch is powered by a quartz ETA 251.262 movement. The watch is running and keeping good time with all functions of the chronograph operating properly but the service history is unknown.

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