Tissot sign multi-year partnership with NBA to become official timekeeper

Swiss watch brand Tissot have signed a multi-year partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) which will see them become the first official timekeeper of the NBA, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the NBA Development League.

The partnership is the largest in Tissot’s 160-year history and it is the first time the company have become an official timekeeper for a major North American sports league, with the deal adding to their vast portfolio of partnerships with major international sporting events.

“Tissot is very proud to join the NBA and to be able to create a bond with the players and the fans,” said François Thiébaud, president of Tissot.

“The emotions and the spirit behind the sport will further translate into our products.

"Our daily work is to dress time.

“We create pieces of beauty and accuracy but above all of emotionality and that is what sport, and more particularly the NBA, is about.”

As part of the agreement Tissot, a member of the Swatch Group, will receive global league licensing rights for timepieces, watches, clocks, and watch accessories for all NBA teams, while they will provide support for the partnership at their retail stores around the world.

Additionally they will work to produce and develop a state-of-the-art integrated timing system with the NBA which is set to be implemented across all 29 NBA venues in time for the 2016-17 season and will include the Tissot-branded shot clocks.

Tissot are set to work with the NBA to develop an integrated timing system ©Getty Images

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver welcomed the partnership with Tissot and believes the new timing system will enhance the delivery of NBA matches.

“In basketball every second – or even tenth of a second – can be critical, and this new partnership with Tissot will bring state-of-the-art timing technology to every NBA arena,” he said.

“We are proud to partner with Tissot, a world-class brand with a long history of developing innovative and dependable timekeeping systems.”

The NBA Global Games, which get underway tomorrow, will be first event in which Tissot is the official timekeeper with six NBA teams set to play seven regular-season and pre-season games in six countries.

The company will also become the official watch of several marquee league events including NBA All-Star, NBA Draft and the Samsung NBA Summer League.