Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger who joined the football club in 1996 holding the JeanRichard clock together with Bruno Grande, managing director, JeanRichard. Photo: © JeanRichard
In early 2014, JeanRichard, a brand owned by the Kering Group, announced their collaborative tie-up with English Premier League football club Arsenal F.C. as their “Global Partner” and “Official Watch”.
Founded in 1886, Arsenal FC is more popularly known as the “Gunners” as their logo is the cannon. This Premier League football club has won 11 FA Cups (The Football Association Challenge Cup). Their eleventh FA Cup win was secured in May 2014.
During this 2014 English FA Cup, Arsenal triumphed 3-2 over Hull City in the match held at Wembley Stadium in London, effectively ending their long nine-year wait (or as one article reported, 3,283 days). Arsenal’s last FA Cup victory was in 2005.
In August 2014, the winning streak of the Gunners continued when they secured a 3-0 win over Manchester City to lift the Community Shield.
Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and left-back Kieran Gibbs. Why are Szczesny and Gibbs checking the time? Because it is time to check out the special JeanRichard Arsenal watches? Or is it because it is also time to check out new product accessories including watches with the JeanRichard branding?
JeanRichard’s partnership with Arsenal is timely as it also “wins”, given that this Premier League football club is reputed to have one of the largest numbers of fans worldwide. This would ultimately translate to more branding awareness for JeanRichard similar for another Arsenal partner, Emirates, which has its branding emblazoned onto their football jerseys.
Forbes even estimates that the club is valued at US$1.331 billion (in a table with values calculated in May 2014), ranking it the fifth most valuable football team globally, behind clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich (from first- to fourth-placed respectively).
This is not the first football club JeanRichard has collaborated with. In 2003, JeanRichard partnered Juventus. The Italian football club, ranked ninth most valuable by Forbes (in May 2014), currently has a partnership with Hublot.
The JeanRichard Terrascope Arsenal housing the Calibre JR60 automatic movement is the first JeanRichard watch specially made for Arsenal. Photo: © TANG Portfolio. Elfa / Timmy. 2014 BaselWorld
The collaboration as “Official Watch” partner cannot be justified without “Arsenal” watches. This explains why JeanRichard launched two special watches at the 2014 BaselWorld watch fair: the Terrascope Arsenal and the limited edition Aeroscope Chronograph Arsenal.
JeanRichard Aeroscope Chronograph Arsenal (powered by the Calibre JR66 automatic movement) is the second JeanRichard watch made for Arsenal. Limited to 250 pieces. Photo: © TANG Portfolio. Elfa / Timmy. 2014 BaselWorld
The Gunners logo is printed on the dial of the Terrascope Arsenal while the football club’s cannon symbol functions as a rotating sweep seconds hand in the Aeroscope Chronograph Arsenal which is limited to 250 pieces.
There are four collections from JeanRichard: Terrascope, Aquascope, Aeroscope and 1681 representing Earth, water, air and the “fire of passion” inspiring the brand respectively.