Mick Doohan clocked
Five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan has been honoured by a European watch maker with his own signature time pieceOne of Australia's most recognised sports men, and arguably the most successful rider of his era, five-time 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan has been honoured with his own signature watch, the TW Steel Mick Doohan Special Edition.
As an ambassador for up and coming Dutch watch maker TW Steel, Mick Doohan joins the likes of two-time Indycar world champ Dario Franchitti and F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi in designing his own watch, which was launched at a gala event in Melbourne hosted by F1 greats Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard.
Priced at $775 for the 45mm model and $799 for the 48mm, the TW Steel Mick Doohan Special Edition is a very large watch, featuring Doohan's trademark colours, silver, black and red. The new watch is part of the TECH collection from TW Steel.
The design of the watch is based around a sandblasted steel matte case with dark titanium plating the dominating colour. It also features tiny pillars around its circumference that connect the top bezel to the case-back, and represent motorcycle shock absorbers. "Some of the smaller details are reflective of my style," explained Doohan.
The 10m water-resistant steel watch features a black silicon strap with anti-dust protection and Japanese-made Miyota OS25 chronograph movements.
The Bikesales Network was at the launch of the watch and talked with Mick about his new watch, the state of MotoGP, Formula 1 and life and in general.
"I've been busy doing not a lot lately," joked Doohan, "Though my kids take up a lot of time, and I've also opened up a restaurant in Las Vegas." The Queenslander also confirmed that he will be part of the 2011 Isle of Man TT.
Quizzed on how he got involved with TW Steel watches, Doohan explained that it started about four years ago. "I was walking through an airport and I saw the Dutch watches and thought they were good looking timepieces. Jordy, the [TW Steel] owner met me at my house for a beer and a barbecue and that was it really. I'm honoured to be a associated with TW Steel ... [The new watch is] stylish, not too expensive and looks good."
On the topic of motorsports Doohan gave a frank appraisal of how he sees things: "MotoGP is financially struggling at the moment. The field of riders is small this year and that reflects the state of play, but MotoGP has a big future I think. Casey Stoner is going to be hard to beat this year. You've also got F1 happening one weekend and then MotoGP the next - motorsports fans are well catered for at the moment."
He said he liked Mark Webber's chances in the Australian F1 GP, opining that Webber will again be one of the quickest in 2011, but that drivers and riders in top tier motorsports teams are "paid to hate their team-mates".
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi exemplified this in 2010, and Doohan joked that Mark Webber's team mate Sebastian Vettel was a "formidable driver who's only just out of puberty."
As well as being an ambassador for brands like TW Steel and AMG, Doohan has a rollercoaster named after him at the Dreamworld theme park in Queensland.
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