A gifted raconteur, it’s clear he is as comfortable discussing the latest political, economic and social news as he is developments in the watch industry. What is perhaps surprising is how au fait he is with the golf industry until one realizes his connections with the game go back a long way.
As we talked about golf sponsorship and ambassadors, I asked him why Omega doesn’t have “branding” on their players, given, for example, Audemars Piguet’s success with this approach:
"You know honestly, I take my hat off to AP for this. I brought golf into AP when I was there. I hired Nick Faldo. Actually I saw Nick yesterday, by the way. I think he's been bodybuilding, he's so fit. Unbelievable. Anyway, he won four majors with AP, we had a lot of success together with Nick, a lot. He was probably the first golfer any watch brand actually "activated". Because even Rolex and Nicklaus never really did that, or Palmer, they never really did that much together back then.
"But, you know, I never thought of this idea (of badging the player), we never really talked about it. Then when I left, they continued with it, and they had this idea of putting “AP” on the right shoulder, and they started getting more players on board. It's very effective, I agree.
"I think if you get it in the contract when you are bringing the player on board it's maybe easier. With Rory, when we went to him, that was a no-go because he was with Nike. So swoosh only. We have one thing on the bag, but nothing else. We had a logo I love that we used to use on the Asian Tour years ago, I love that one. That's something we could put on. I think to just have the word "Omega" written here [points to right sleeve] would look corny …”
But you have the perfect symbol (the Omega Greek letter) that watch aficionados would recognize …
Yes, true, so we are looking at this and maybe we can start with one or two younger players. It's our fault. We didn't push this and the idea of just the brand name on the sleeve … (shudders). I see Bubba Watson with Richard Mille written on his sleeve.
And he wears the watch while playing …
Our watch can withstand any g-shock from a golfer. It's a false thing that people think that you cannot play golf with mechanical watches. Not true.
My team has come up with ideas and we have a couple of examples to have players try. No commitment, it's not easy. I wouldn't want a player to restrict his swing and say "that bloody watch, I'm not playing well". It's possible. I think it would be great but it has to be a watch that's immediately recognizable as an Omega. That's very important.
So I think it's something we have to work on. You know, we do our best. Our ambassadors, as soon as they stop playing, they pull on the watch and … [mimes signing autographs]. So you know it's very important. I agree, the branding on the shirt, wearing the watch, finding the idea would be something good. I agree with you. We are aware of it, the watch, we are aware of it. The branding, we are aware of it. But I think it would be difficult.
A very keen golfer himself, with two holes-in-one under his belt, Stephen sees the relationship between golf and Omega as something deeper than the standard blurb.
"The classical answer everyone gives is precision in sport, technique, importance of timing, and so on, but I think for me it's not just that. For me, golf is more than a sport. It's a brilliant pastime where the players and spectators are potential customers for fine watches. I'm not saying just expensive watches, but a fine watch. Golf does have this emotional and cultural aspect to it and it’s a little bit different from most sports. It has a social aspect also, in that you can play golf with people for business, for family, for friends, so I think that's the main reason it’s a good fit for a brand like Omega. We’re very compatible.”
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