Rolex joins SailGP as Presenting Partner and Official Timepiece
by SailGP Communications 11 Feb 2019 17:35 PST
SailGP Practice race day. © Chris Cameron / SailGP
SailGP today announced an exclusive long-term global partnership with Rolex that designates the Swiss watchmaker as Presenting Partner and Official Timepiece for the new global sports championship setting out to redefine sailing. Rolex timepieces and clocks will be visible throughout all SailGP events, and featured on each of the six supercharged F50 catamarans the world's fastest race boat. Uniquely, the exclusivity extends across all SailGP assets throughout the league.
"We are delighted to partner with Rolex, which shares our passion for performance, precision, excellence and innovation," said SailGP CEO Russell Coutts. "Rolex crafts impeccable timepieces, and has a long history with dynamic international sports properties. We're proud to join their amazing stable of partnerships alongside some of the world's most iconic and long-standing brands."
Rolex has a long heritage with sailing, including sponsorship of the World Sailor of the Year Award, an honor currently held by Marie Riou of the France SailGP Team, and previously won by Tom Slingsby (AUS, 2010) and Coutts (1995, 2003).
"SailGP marks an evolution in yachting and enables Rolex to further strengthen its 60-year relationship with the sport," said Arnaud Boetsch, Rolex communication & image director. "As a brand, we have always appreciated endeavors and sporting disciplines that combine the highest levels of technology with the most talented individuals. SailGP meets such a vision, while the art of foiling perfectly illustrates the sport's constant desire to innovate and improve efficiency, objectives that align with Rolex's own quest for Perpetual Excellence, in all its activities. As the Official Timepiece, we are delighted to be associated with an event that demands precision, excellence and performance from sailors and their boats."
SailGP's inaugural event of Season 1 kicks off on February 15, when rival national teams from Australia, China, France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States will fight it out on Sydney Harbour in the fastest, most technologically advanced race boats in the world. The annual championship then moves to San Francisco in May, New York in June and Cowes (UK) in August, before culminating in a $1 million winner-takes-all race in Marseille, France, in September.