Although you don’t often see members of a team game wearing a watch - excluding, of course, sailing and polo (Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso was originally designed for polo players in India) - sports watches are almost certainly the most popular category on today’s vast watch market. There are hundreds and thousands of them, equipped with either mechanical or quartz movements, with analogue or digital readings (a few have both), and stainless steel bracelets or the trendy natural or perfumed rubber straps, and they are usually enticingly photographed to try to tempt the sports-minded consumer away from the television long enough to purchase one.
In addition to proclaiming the complexities of the watch, the brands suggest an additional value for their watches via endorsements by the fast and famous: Roger Federer (tennisman extraodinaire) with Maurice Lacroix, Anna Kournikova (tennis), Alexander Popov (natation) Ellen MacArthur (sailing), Ernie Els (golf) and Michael Schumacher (Formula 1) all with Omega, Maria Sharapova (tennis), Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raïkkönen (Formula 1 and recent Monaco Grand Prix winner), Tiger Woods (golf) all with TAG Heuer, Ralf Schumacher with Oris, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Andy Roddick (tennis), Sir Jackie Stewart (Formula 1), Arnold Palmer and Gary Player (golf) with Rolex, to name just a few of the many ‘sporting ambassadors’.
Although tennis, golf, sailing and Formula 1 appear to be the prime sports targeted by the brands, the chances are that for nearly every other sport that exists, someone, somewhere has more than likely created a watch for it – although come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing a watch for bungee jumpers. And if for some unbeknownst reason one doesn’t exist, jump on the bandwagon and start designing. because if you want it, you can bet your grandfather’s thongs, that there are others who would also like one.
In the sports watch category, the chronograph is, ostensibly, by far the dominant timepiece and as I have said many times before, there isn’t a brand worth its salt that does not have a mechanical or quartz chronograph in its collections. The chronograph has been the dominant purchase of sportsmen and macho wannabes for decades, but as ladies’ demands for more spectacular watches increases, not to mention their ascendancy in the sports arenas, more and more models specifically designed for the fairer sex are seeing the light of day for both the chic lady about town and their macho counterparts (or should that be machissimaı).

Splash, zoom and vroom vroom
Sailing, diving, aviation and motor sports all have their aficionados and many brands have built their horological reputation by specializing on a particular activity. For example, Breitling, Glycine and more recently Luminox produce watches for aviators and the aviation industry; Hublot, Corum, Nautica and relative newcomers Scalfaro are associated with sailing; TAG Heuer, Certina and Tissot are associated with timepieces for racing cars and Formula 1 – and we musn’t forget Girard-Perregaux’ long association with Ferrari. But whatever the sport, the majority of watches have as a base, a chronograph movement.
For the last couple of years, motor racing has been the in-thing as far as manufacturers are concerned, it’s the trendy sport, the one with which to be associated. Apart from TAG Heuer whose very raison d’être is motor racing, and the Swatch Group trio of Certina, Tissot and Omega, more and more brands are devoting models to this ear-splitting activity, or perhaps more precisely to the dedicated spectator of the sport.
For example, Frederique Constant is now associated with Austin Healey, Eterna with Porsche Design, Oris with BMW Williams and the very latest brand to design a ‘racing car’ watch is de Grisogono (see the article on the Power Breaker in this issue). In addition we are also seeing some brand names such as Audi, Mercedes Benz and Jaguar introducing watch collections.
BaselWorld and to a much lesser extent SIHH, were rich in sports watches, in fact far too abundant to illustrate here. Therefore, with my apologies to the numerous sports watch brands not mentioned - which may lead to me being for the high jump (note the sporting allusion for a reprimand), here is a selection of some of the sports watches that had me slamming on my brakes as I zoomed around looking for that elusive pièce de résistance.

Source: June -July 2005 Issue

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