A less auspicious curtain-raiser to a FIFA World Cup is hard to imagine than the opening match between Qatar, a country with a population of under 3 million and almost no football pedigree, and Ecuador.
That is how the tournament will kick off on November 20, with the footballing fraternity and its sponsors hoping the event generates the usual worldwide attention from a billion or more fans over the six weeks ending with the final on December 18.
Hublot is once again Official Timekeeper, and today it unveils the latest version of its Big Bang e smartwatch, for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The connected watch has new match mode and timeline functions.
As each game begins, the watch will automatically enter match mode and activate timeline, which helps fans capture the most memorable moments.
At the outer edge of the dial there will be a scale split into five sections, indicating the first and second halves, additional time allowed in each half, and half time.
If a goal is scored, the watch will show a match event animation mentioning the player’s name, and a football symbol will appear at the appropriate minute mark on the scale.
The same thing happens if there is a yellow card, a red card or a penalty.
If a match goes beyond normal time, the watch display will automatically switch into extra time mode, and then into the dreaded penalty shootout mode, with each penalty scored or missed recorded by a football with a green or red outline.
The luxury smartwatch comes in a 44mm case micro-blasted and polished black ceramic and black titanium case housing the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip set running the latest version of Wear OS by Google.
It has a suite of preloaded apps for tracking activity and health along with messaging, music and other lifestyle features.
It is a limited edition of 1,000 pieces is priced at £5,000.
