This web site is not quite the same as other sailing web sites. We do not sell anything, we are not a club or association, we are simply here as a service to members of the sailing community who want to explore the idea of having a custom starting watch for your club, or a special regatta your club is hosting. How about trophies? You get the idea...
I
am a sailor who likes to usestylish starting watches, not "sport watches" that look like my arm was just attacked by a plastic injection machine. Most of us are not the kind of racers who can buy a
starting watch that costs more than our boats. Even though someday I would like to, but I digress. Take a look at some of the watches that have been acquired over the past 25+ years of racing sailboats and you will notice starting watches with simple easy to read faces that allow the skipper or crew to know exactly when the start horn goes off.
The
idea for this web site comes after buying a limited edition watch commemorating
the 40th year of catamaran one design class racing. I bought this
fantastic custom watch made by a prestigious Swiss watch company for a very
fair price. Boy is it a work of art! Photo CLICK HERE But to my shock and dismay one of the largest racing class
associations chose a simple crono watch not a true starting / racing watch to
celebrate the event! Sure they must have looked at prices and features to
get the most bang for the buck. However, there are those of us who would have
spent the same or more to have a watch we can actually race with. And I am sure
the watch company would have rather produced a true starting watch for the
event.
There
was a group of us at the yacht club bar (you know the spot I bet) who asked
this simple question, "Why not go to the watch companies and have limited
edition starting watches made for our clubs?" This web site is
dedicated to this simple idea!
Sure you can buy an inexpensive starting watch that will work fine, but we do
not race yachts and/or sailboats to just be "ok". We race for the fun, thrill, color and total sensory impact of the sport. We belong to yacht
clubs, we race in class racing and we are proud of our associations. Why not
show our spirit!
After spending hours and hours searching the net then contacting a few of the watch companies, I have found they are willing to
make custom watches for clubs. The goal of this web site is to match the right project with the right watch
company.
#1
We need to have enough units to make a short run economically sound - 50 or
more units, depending on the watch and company.
#2 We need to have high resolution art work no matter what watch is chosen.
#3 We need to make sure no one is left on the dock with the banker if you get the drift.
Simple
enough right? Bet your asking the same question the watch companies are asking, "What is in it for you". Simple our deal with the watch companies is they allow us to BUY (yes as in pay for) any of the watches they produce for clubs we send to them. Thus the collection grows as clubs use this web site to offer their members cool starting watches with your burgee on the face. Sort of like trading Burgee's with other clubs, this is the concept.
If your club wants watches made please let us know and we
will match you up with a company to handle your request. Click HERE
If you are a watch company that can produce custom STARTING
watches email us and let us add you to the web site.Click HERE