Hamilton is the Official Timekeeper of the 2017 Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
Featuring 14 of the best race pilots, among which Nicolas Ivanoff, the brand ambassador since 2005, the competition sees ultra-fast, lightweight racing planes navigate a low-level aerial track of 25 metre-high air-filled pylons.
The 2017 race calendar will take place in eight cities around the world starting with its first stop in Abu Dhabi on February 10-11, a celebratory event marking the diamond 75th Red Bull Air Race.
Sylvain Dolla, Hamilton’s CEO, said the brand has a good fit with the event due to its rich aviation heritage and added that it would reinforce Hamilton’s presence in the aerobatics world.
“Our brand has a prestigious history of serving the flying community, and this latest evolution in our partnership with the World Championship further strengthens our presence in aviation. Hamilton is taking aviation watches to new heights, and we’re proud to be the Official Timekeeper of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2017.”
Hamilton has been timing the skies since 1919, when the pioneering pilots of the era put their trust in the precision of its watches and navigation instruments.
In addition to keeping the first American airmail service on track, Hamilton became the official watch of TWA, Eastern, United and Northwest in the 1930s. Its instruments also partnered the first American coast-to-coast air services which took commercial flying into the modern age.
Today, many squadrons use Hamilton watches as standard equipment, including South Korea’s 121st fighter Squadron, the Patrulla Aspa from Spain, the Patrol Squadron Forty from United States, and the Apache and F-16 Demo Team from the Netherlands, among others.
Hamilton uses these associations to deepen its understanding of pilot needs and the watch functions required to develop timepieces designed for pilots, such as the Khaki Takeoff for Air Zermatt, a transport and rescue helicopter unit in the Alps.
