Few partnerships between watchmakers and individuals are as popular as those between brands and tennis stars. With an engaged audience that skews into the upper echelons of income streams and as a sport with a primary focus on individual achievement and— importantly— wrists attached to hands attached to rackets, it’s little wonder how tennis has become so popular for luxury brands, particularly.
Rolex, for example, has been the “official timekeeper” at Wimbledon since 1978 among many other major tournaments since, and has been on the wrist of legendary player Roger Federer in an official capacity since the beginning of their partnership in 2006. Similarly, Selena Williams has served as a prominent brand ambassador for Audemars Piguet since 2014, and Rafael Nadal made headlines in 2020 after winning the French Open while wearing a million-dollar Richard Mille designed and then named for him (below).
This month, we see the latest update to this history of tennis stars and watchmaking from TAG Heuer, with the announcement of their new Aquaracer Professional 300 Naomi Osaka Limited Edition. The watch is named and launched in partnership with Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka, who last year became one of TAG Heuer’s latest ambassadors alongside several others in 2021, including the Olympian Sydney Mclaughlin and actor Ryan Gosling.
At a glance, the new watch uses the 2021-introduced Aquaracer Professional 300 as its base design, with it specially featuring a multi-shade green colorway, wave-textured dial, and diamond accents. According to the brand, Osaka specifically chose the Aquaracer collection for the collaborative effort and contributed to its design, green being the color of choice “in honour of her two great passions,” that is, nature and tennis, as well as her love of “all things green.”
As for specs, the limited edition features a 36mm steel case, it 300m water resistant diver opting for a primarily brushed finishing with touches of polishing on its bevels for contrast. Its sillehoute, octagonal unidirectional bezel with ceramic diving insert, and dial configuration share much of the same details as the 2021 Aquaracer update, differing most obviously in its wavy as compared to straight textured dial, light green colorway, and use of diamonds within its eight octagonal hour markers. The no-nonsense TAG Heuer Calibre 5 Automatic powers the diver, it hidden behind a solid caseback specially marked with an engraving of a teddy bear holding a flower which serves as Naomi Osaka’s logo.
The new TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Naomi Osaka Limited Edition will be available this month as an exclusive to the US, Japanese, and Australian markets, being delivered with a standard dark green rubber strap as well as additional strap made from recycled fishing nets. The novelty will be limited to 250 total numbered editions and priced at $3,650 USD.
To learn more, visit TAG Heuer, here.