Eight sports watches for serious players

Polo or ice hockey? Sailing or diving beneath the waves? This season’s sports watches have something for everyone. As the America’s Cup reaches its climax this weekend, with Team New Zealand facing off against Team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Omega celebrates 21 years of being the race’s official timekeeper with a dedicated steel Seamaster, complete with a regatta timer to count down to the klaxon.

Hublot brings a whole lot of muscle with its Big Bang Unico Red Carbon in honour of the Russian ice-hockey star and captain of the Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin – he’s been 16 years in the game and the watch’s super-strong carbon-fibre case is a nod both to what his hockey gear is made of and, more importantly, what he is made of. Its chunky machismo is matched by Richard Mille’s new carbon TPT RM65-01 Split-Seconds Chronograph, described by the company as “the most complex timepiece ever to leave the workshop”, incorporating a button-powered rapid-winding mechanism in a Mille watch for the first time. It’s been tested to destruction or, in fact, non-destruction.

Bulgari and Piaget’s new sports models, with their slimline steel cases, evoke a more gentlemanly elegance, while Zenith and Longines capture the spirit of classic mid-20th-century timepieces – Zenith’s new riff on the El Primero being worthy in looks to stand alongside a Rolex Daytona, and the Longines HydroConquest breathing easy 300 metres down in the ocean, should you ever find yourself there. And, for a more edgy take on sportiness, LVMH has four seriously fab, fun new Tambour Street Divers that will jog happily from gym to office – or down to the beach for a dip.