Bremont Official Timing Partner of Williams Racing

[RedsBluesGreens]

Hi Everyone,

Just incase you missed this yesterday, Bremont have announced a partnership with Williams Racing - the F1 team.

The partnership draws upon the many similarities of the two brands, with a clear focus on precision and innovation allowing for collaboration on a deeper technical level. Bremont’s move to its new state-of-the-art Manufacturing and Technology Centre, which marks the start of a new era for British watchmaking, is perfectly timed to enable a knowledge sharing focused around their respective CNC machining capabilities.

Williams race drivers, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, will proudly wear their Bremont watches along with other senior members of the team.

You can read more about it here: Williams Racing

J.

[Farhad19620]

Thanks for sharing, I missed this.

[theancientmariner]

Not sure how I feel about this. I don't understand why Bremont would get involved with an F1 company for any reason other than pure advertising. If they were looking to the future then I could possibly understand a deal with a Formula E team or even Extreme E but Williams F1.... seems an odd choice especially after the Williams family have just left the team and it's now owned by a US investment company.

[Farhad19620]

Not sure how I feel about this. I don't understand why Bremont would get involved with an F1 company for any reason other than pure advertising. If they were looking to the future then I could possibly understand a deal with a Formula E team or even Extreme E but Williams F1.... seems an odd choice especially after the Williams family have just left the team and it's now owned by a US investment company.

I personally don’t really like the association of watches with cars and of course there is nothing wrong with the advertising or marketing reasons. I feel the deal with Williams is better then the Jaguar one. I was impressed with the dashboard clock made for the Aston Martin, not that I will ever be able to afford that car but I think that was an excellent move for whatever the reasons may have been.

IMHO the best partnership Bremont have is with Martin Baker , everything with that collaboration makes sense to me but this is only my personal opinion.

[SuperRichieM]

^^^ I'm not keen on this either if only because it raises their profile when I like to think of Bremont as a well kept secret.

Have they replaced Oris as a watch sponsor? Commercially it must be a fantastic outcome for them.

I expect there will be a Williams/Bremont watch at some point, which I personally don't like because of it being a bit irrelevant when the deal ends and is replaced by something else.

But yes, in terms of profile it's a great opportunity. I wonder if the drivers will have a Bremont watch image on their gloves like Lewis does with IWC. Looks really effective.

The Martin Baker partnership does take some beating in terms on marketing value.

[RedsBluesGreens]

^^^ I'm not keen on this either if only because it raises their profile when I like to think of Bremont as a well kept secret.

Have they replaced Oris as a watch sponsor? Commercially it must be a fantastic outcome for them.

I expect there will be a Williams/Bremont watch at some point, which I personally don't like because of it being a bit irrelevant when the deal ends and is replaced by something else.

But yes, in terms of profile it's a great opportunity. I wonder if the drivers will have a Bremont watch image on their gloves like Lewis does with IWC. Looks really effective.

The Martin Baker partnership does take some beating in terms on marketing value.

It’s an interesting one as I imagine the budget required to break in to F1 as a timepiece manufacturer must be substantial - and being featured on a Worldwide scale alongside the likes of IWC, Rolex, Hublot, Richard Mille can be no bad thing for the brand moving forward.

Selfishly, I agree with your views about a ‘well kept secret’ but hopefully moving forward this will help the brand (and us!): increasing exposure, public knowledge, and thus pre-loved values etc.

J.

[SuperRichieM]

^^^ And George Russell is at least a fantastic driver and surely a future world champion. Good to have him wearing one now, his value will increase over time too!

[theancientmariner]

I'm not keen on this either if only because it raises their profile when I like to think of Bremont as a well kept secret.

I think along the same lines but not simply because they're relatively unknown. Before the pandemic, Bremont felt like a family, a commercial family but a family never the less. Attending the launch events, everyone was approachable. I've called in to boutiques and had a cup of coffee and a quiet chat for no other reason than I was passing. I've never felt that I could do that in any other brand boutique that I've been to.

Any previous associations in my view have been complimentary to the brand. The Americas Cup, Jaguar, Boeing etc. They've all been for marketing reasons but also genuine affiliations and Bremont still remained front and centre.

When it comes to F1, all of that will be lost. Bremont will just be a name on a car for commercial reasons. When it comes to F1, it's only F1 that matters, everything else is along for the ride. That concerns me as an awful lot of money will be spent on this affiliation, money that will have to be paid for by Bremont buyers. What also concerns me is that if the partnership is commercially successful, will Bremont just become another TAG? F1 tends to suit the fashion brands but you don't tend to see the 'real' watch brands in F1 and to me, Bremont is a 'real' watch brand.

[theancientmariner]

George Russell is at least a fantastic driver and surely a future world champion.!

No doubt that he's a fantastic driver but when he drove Lewis Mercedes it did highlight one question. Is it the driver or the car? He hasn't done an awful lot with Williams but did look exceptional in the Mercedes. The Mercedes is without a doubt the better car so the question might be, exactly how good is the driver?

[SuperRichieM]

^^^ Yes, I would love to see Lewis in a Williams racing against George Russell in a Mercedes.

And I agree. Ive dropped into the Mayfair boutique just for a look and a chat because I really like what Bremont represent. I'd be really disappointed if it became a bland corporate company over time or worse, taken over by LVMH or somesuch. But I think (hopes) that's unlikely based on interviews with Nick and Giles in the past.