Omega Partners Emirates Team New Zealand and the America’s Cup for 2021

Mid-year is nearly upon us and one of the world’s most prestigious sailing championships is well on its starting run. That’s the America’s Cup, which dates back to 1851, and the 36th edition will be held in March 2021, for its 160th anniversary. But the World Series competition is already underway, and this particular edition is thrilling because of a new boat format, the AC75 hydrofoil monohull, and new rules.

The defending champion is Emirates Team New Zealand, which, if you don’t recall, took out previous defending champion Oracle Team USA with a 7-1 win. And Team New Zealand’s timing partner, Omega, will be serving as the event’s official timekeeper as well. The brand isn’t new to the sporting event, having collaborated with Team New Zealand in 1995 and 2017, when they took the Cup.

With this historic event, the brand is introducing a limited edition watch at the start of the World Series, a 2,021 piece Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M 36th America’s Cup Limited Edition. The specially designed watch bears a special bezel design with a 10-minute count indication for yacht races. It also bears the colours of the Cup, with red and white liquid ceramic for the countdown on the bezel on the blue ceramic bezel, as well as a white polished ceramic dial with a blue and red structured rubber strap.

The watch is powered by Omega’s Master Chronometer certified caliber 8900, which was the first Omega movement to achieve the METAS certification in 2015. The movement has a Co-Axial escapement with free-sprung balance and silicon balance spring, double barrels that run in series for 60 hours and a very elegant arabesque style Geneva waves decoration on the movement, which in this edition aptly reminds one of the ocean.

The movement is visible through the sapphire caseback, which also bears the America’s Cup logo. Further details of the association are on the counterweight of the seconds hand and the Team New Zealand team name on the dial. The lively blue outlines on the hour markers and hands, and red rubber lining around the strap and at the quarter hours, really evoke the energy of the championship, which is something the world is surely looking forward to — the spray of the sea, a dose of fresh air and the Sun after months of being shuttered away in our homes.

CEO of the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, Grant Dalton, said, “We’ve worked with OMEGA for many years now and we truly respect their high standards of excellence. We know they’ll bring a lot of experience to the event.”

“Our goal is to have the very best people for every part of the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada. The choice of OMEGA was obvious. They not only have a distinguished history as the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, but they have also established themselves as the leader of timekeeping on the water.”