Advertisement
Advertisement

Watch brands get in on the action

Richard Watt

Timing is everything for professional sportsmen and women, and quality Swiss watch brands are keen to have their products worn by sporting celebrities as they pick up major trophies.

At the forefront of these sponsorships are Audemars Piguet and Omega. Both brands have a long history of sponsoring sports personalities and events, including world championship sailing.

'We share common values with sports and sporting greats,' said Wolfgang Sickenberg, chief executive of Audemars Piguet Hong Kong and China. 'The prestige, the teamwork, the innovation and all the other elements you see in competitive sporting people are the same as you see in watchmakers.

'Watchmakers always have to find new solutions and develop new concepts; it's the same for sportspeople.'

Both Omega and Audemars Piguet have a history of sponsoring major sporting events in Hong Kong, such as premier horse racing at Sha Tin. 'This year we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of our sponsorship of the Audemars Piguet Queen ElizabethII Cup,' Mr Sickenberg said. 'The sponsorship of the race is something we have been developing and we are very pleased with it. It's very positive for us in this part of the world.'

Mimi Chun, public relations and event manager for Omega Hong Kong, said that Omega had a long and proud tradition of sponsoring golf in the region, and has been title sponsor of the Hong Kong Open. On top of this, a long-term agreement signed in 2001 between the International Olympic Committee and The Swatch Group, of which Omega is a part, calls for the company to provide timekeeping and measurement services for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Omega first became the official timekeeper of the games in 1932.

Ms Chun said that the work this year involved dedicated and modern timing systems such as photo-finish cameras and displays, cameras and touchpads which were thoroughly tested by the Omega timekeeping team in Switzerland before being shipped to Beijing.

Since 1875, Audemars Piguet has remained in the hands of its founding family, and is the world's oldest manufacturer of haute horologerie to do so. Unlike many other Swiss brands, the company makes efforts to sponsor sporting people as opposed to sporting events.

The company's 'ambassadors' include golfers Nick Faldo, Vijay Singh and Darren Clarke; the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Formula One drivers Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya, among others.

But the relationship between the brand and their sports ambassadors goes further than having them wear Audemars Piguet watches.

'The ambassadors play an important part in the design of the watches themselves,' he said. 'For example, for the Montoya watch, we talked to Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya. They had their own input into the design to help make a relationship between Formula One materials and design to give the watches a definite Formula One feel.'

Mr Sickenberg said that for watches designed for sailors, the company got advice from the Alinghi America's Cup sailing team which it sponsored. 'We talk to the team and the captain and ask them exactly what attributes they need from their watches. For example, we ask if they should be highly visible for bad weather and exactly what functions they need their watches to be able to perform.'

The result is a perfect match between style, purpose and functionality.

Post