Dubai, UAE, July 30, 2018:  TISSOT AND SPORTS

The bond between Tissot and the dynamic world of sports was forged in its early days. Tissot then entered the field of sports timekeeping in 1938 to become a key player in the championships.

Today, its sporting calendar unites high-profile events and a diverse spectrum of disciplines. In addition to its Official Timekeeping partnerships in the world of basketball with the NBA and FIBA; cycling with the Tour de France and the UCI World Cycling Championships; motorsports with MotoGPTM and the FIM World Superbike Championship and rugby with the Natwest 6 Nations Championship, TOP14, the European Rugby Champions and Challenge Cups, the World Championships of Fencing, Ice hockey and Table Tennis also entrust their timekeeping and data handling to the Swiss brand.

It has also provided timekeeping services for some of the world’s most important multi-discipline sporting events. Among them are the Summer and Winter Universiades, the biggest international multi-sport events for student athletes, in 2013, the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007 and the Asian Games in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014 and 2018.

As timing and delivery of competition results become more and more complex, Tissot has succeeded in staying at the top of the game and provide priceless accuracy every step of the way.

02 TIMING IS CRITICAL

Because  timing and scoring in these sports demands supreme  precision, being the Official Timekeeper is a good match for Tissot. In addition, Tissot branding is on all the timing and scoring materials and is featured with the sport’s clock on the television feed shown all over the world.

The appeal of sports is in the competition, and timing is such an integral part of this that getting it exactly right, time after time, is imperative. Tissot has demonstrated its ability to provide absolute accuracy and has become a trusted partner of some of the world’s biggest sports.

It’s no easy task, when athletes can be separated by only thousands of a second at the finish line, or fencers touch a millisecond  apart.

A trusted partner of some of the world’s biggest sports.

TRACK CYCLING TIMING.

Tissot branding is on all the timing and scoring materials and is featured with the sport’s clock on the television feed shown all over the world.

TIMEKEEPING TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

Timing, scoring and statistics in modern sports are not simply a matter of counting down seconds and tallying positions. Analysis and statistics have come to have a tremendous importance for fans, coaches, athletes, commentators, media and more.

In association with its partner and fellow Swatch Group company, Swiss Timing and Tissot has developed a number of complex information technology-based  systems  to allow everyone, from professional to fan, to analyse and enjoy today’s dynamic and energetic sports even more. Whether spectators are watching from home on TV or online, or even in the stadium or at the track, Tissot provides detailed timing, scoring and statistical within seconds to allow the sports to be showcased at the top, international level.

Understandably, when people are used to the precision and accuracy of Tissot timekeeping, they attribute the same qualities to the timepieces Tissot produces. Tissot is the number one volume producer of traditional watches in Switzerland, and each of these products, from the Tissot T-Touch Expert Solar to the Tissot Heritage 1936, are held  to exacting precision standards. Tissot watches can be trusted to keep accurate time.

Not only is Tissot involved in timekeeping, but also in partnership with many sports, partnerships with athletes (like Tony Parker, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo and many more) and the production of Official Timepieces for key sports,  such as special editions for the Tour de France and Asian Games.

Tissot is a valued Partner,  providing necessary timing and information services to the sports, the competitors, the fans and the media. Timing
is critical and that’s why so many sports, trust Tissot.

PREPARATION

For the 18th Asian Games Jakarta Palembang 2018, the timekeeping team was put in place months before. Tissot visited the venues, planned the event, worked with the local organisers, and the logistics are much more complicated. The network issues are paramount,  as it’s vital to edit the results everywhere at the same time for the different kinds of competition.

In Jakarta Palembang, Tissot set up a technology operation centre, which is where the Tissot team has control of what is going on at every venue. Tissot monitors the connections and the servers for all of fields of play.

One of the other challenges is that the timing and data management systems vary from sport to sport. Even if some sports are a bit similar, they are very different, so there is no one-size- fits-all solution. For example, basketball is one of the events at the Asian Games, and there is scoring and event timing; but for track and field, the races are all about timing and end position.

Therefore, the hardware for each and every sport is different, which requires incredible organisation and logistics management.

Despite the complexity of multi-sports events, the philosophy behind Tissot’s involvement is always the same  – to guarantee reliability and accuracy for the timing and the scoring. The accuracy of the systems is absolutely fundamental. The athletes have made such a commitment, have made great personal sacrifices, so it’s absolutely imperative to be right. The competition can last just a few seconds, but these athletes have trained for many years. Tissot can’t afford to have something go wrong during those few seconds. Tissot is proud to be involved in such important projects. The skills asked of a Timekeeper and for a watchmaker are basically the same – accuracy  and reliability are what you want in a watch as well. That’s why it makes a lot of sense to have Tissot, a watch company, doing the timing.

TRACK & FIELD TIMING

Timing and data compilation when there are 20 - 25 events running at the same time is a real challenge.

BASKETBALL

Basketball, one of the most popular sports the world over, is an exciting, dramatic sport, where a split-second can be the difference between winning and losing. Such a fast paced and important sport requires a Timekeeper that can be relied upon to be precise and accurate, ensuring that results are correct and fair. Tissot provides vital timekeeping and scoring services to ensure highest quality results. Timing and scoring in basketball today is not simply a matter of counting down seconds and tallying points. Analysis and statistics have come to have a tremendous importance in the modern game.

General  data such as team names, player and referees is entered in the computer database before the opening tip-off. From the very first second of the match, professional scouts capture all of the relevant actions of each player on each team using a special interactive entry system. Key game statistics such as points, blocks, assists, rebounds,  steals and turnovers are instantly recorded and transferred to a database. In the blink of an eye, TV viewers, commentators, internet users and live spectators have real-time access to the number of personal fouls or offensive rebounds. Ranking lists are produced and updated in real-time at the push of a button for each match, team or even the entire championship.

Alongside the main timing and scoring systems vital to the game, Tissot also provides the infrastructure for the scouting and statistics systems, TV graphics for the international feed, an online interface for live results and statistics, an on-venue results service for media and commentators  as well as a TV analysis tool for television commentators and pundits.

CYCLING

Cycling has been part of Tissot’s sports commitment for 30 years, and over the course of  its involvement, Tissot has been the Official Timekeeper and Sponsor of the UCI Cycling World Championships and Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cups, the Tour de Suisse, Tour de France and the Spanish La Vuelta.

What used to be done with hand-held Stopwatches has now become driven by technology. Tracks are embedded with sensors, bikes are equipped  with transponders and computers control the entire system. Don’t worry, these computers have back up power supplies, so even a power outage won’t impact the results, as  well as  human spotters to verify the results. In addition, the finish line is equipped with high-speed cameras, providing photo finish data in the event of a finish too tight to determine with the naked eye and the timing data. These cameras capture 10’000 frames a second, making it possible to dissect the finish and make sure the positioning and times are absolutely accurate. It’s not just about the times and finish order, however.

Tissot’s responsibility  extends to data compilation and dissemination. Any statistics you see before, during and after the race are a result of Tissot’s involvement, and the Tissot logo naturally accompanies this information. Tissot’s extensive experience in timing bicycle racing around the world
has resulted in the extraordinary amount of trust Cycling’s governing bodies have placed in Tissot to handle timekeeping, data collection and data. For them, it’s a turn-key operation – they hand it over to Tissot. For Tissot, it’s an incredible commitment, provided by an experienced team of professionals who simply love the sport of cycling.

FENCING

Fencing today resembles the traditional duels of years past, without the blood.

Fencing is a challenging sport to handle scoring because it involves both scoring and timing, and the scoring is so difficult to see and record. The tip of the fencer’s weapon is the second fastest moving object in all of sport – the fastest is a bullet from shooting events. Fencing bouts are held on a 14m x 2m “strip” or «piste» to simulate combat in confined quarters, such as a castle hallway. The ends of the fencing strip represent the line the duellists’ seconds drew in the earth: to retreat behind this line during the duel indicated cowardice and loss of honour. Fencing  has three disciplines – Epee, Sabre and Foil, and fencing is one of the only combative sports not to have weight classes. The fencers are electronically connected (either with wires or wirelessly) and the scoring machine detects any hits that exceed the 750 gram weight threshold (based on the amount of tension required to break the skin). The scoring and timing system records the bout on high-speed video and once a hit is detected, the system immediately plays the loop of three seconds before the hit and two seconds after, so the referee can check the recording and alter his decision, if necessary. The entire bout is recorded and can be reviewed. The most challenging thing about scoring and timing fencing is deciding who was touched first. That’s where technology comes in – the action is too fast for the naked eye, so the referee has to depend on the scoring system and the video replay. In fencing, Tissot provides all timing and scoring systems, with flashing lights
for detected hits. In addition, Tissot handles all the statistics and TV graphics, with Tissot logo of course.

Fencing is a challenging and exciting sport, where it is of utmost importance to be right – about the score and about the timing. Tissot makes sure they
get it right, all the time.

TABLE TENNIS

The ball rockets from one side of the table to the other at frightening speeds and with tremendous spin. Table tennis is the most popular racket sport in the world, and, in terms of participation, ranks second overall (out of ALL sports). Over 10 million players compete in sanctioned tournaments every year.

Table tennis at the international level is a joy to watch. Tissot is the Official Timekeeper of the 2018 ITTF Table Tennis Team World Championships and is responsible for all timing and statistical information.  Tissot, in addition to managing the match timing for the Table Tennis will provide fans, coaches, athletes, commentators, media and more with unprecedented, live statistical information. Stats such  as: points played, points won, points lost, unforced errors, points won on serve, points lost on serve, points won on return of service, points lost on return of service and more. Tissot has developed  a number of state-of-the-art information technology- based systems to allow everyone, from professional to fan, to analyse and enjoy today’s dynamic and energetic table tennis championships even more.

Over 10 million players compete in sanctioned tournaments every year.

RUGBY

In Europe’s other big field sport, football, the time has always been kept by the referee, and that’s the way it used to be in rugby. A few years ago, rugby introduced a television referee whose responsibility was managing the time, but they did not have a way to synchronise the time in the stadium itself, so people who were watching the match on TV knew how much time was left in a match, while those in the stadium had no idea. Tissot has come up with a way to synchronise the time and tested the new system in Ireland, in 2013, and rolled it out to the Six Nations the following year. This new timing system was also used for the first time at the 18th Asian Games Jakarta Palembang 2018, enhancing the spectator experience and contributing to
the enjoyment of the matches.