TAG Heuer’s deepening relationship with professional football continues with the announcement of the Premier League referee app for the company’s Connected watch. The app has been designed in partnership with Premier League referees, all of whom will wear the famous Swiss brand’s game-changing watch during the 2016/17 season.

• Premier League referees to wear TAG Heuer Connected watches during games
• TAG Heuer Connected watch owners will be able to download the exclusive Premier League watch dial to their watch
• New app confirms TAG Heuer as a leader in sports timekeeping
• TAG Heuer’s latest football partnership follows deals with the Premier League and Manchester United

TAG Heuer exchanged know-how with leading Premier League officials to develop the app’s functionality and to create an important tool that will help referees keep track of match timings accurately and securely.

The app is simple to use and has been customised to track the natural rhythm of a game of football, covering both 45-minute halves, including stoppage time, and the 15-minute half-time rest period. It has been designed to be user-friendly and ‘safe’, with gestures that mean referees can focus on the game without fearing they have accidentally stopped the time. Premier League referees have been familiarising themselves with their TAG Heuer Connected watches using the app during pre-season warm-up games. 

Sports timekeeping is part of TAG Heuer’s DNA. The company has a strong history as a sports timekeeper and over the last 100 years has timed all manner of sports at the highest level, including sailing, skiing and of course motor sport. It all began in 1911 with a patent for a device called ‘Time of Trip’, a dashboard chronograph for cars and aircraft. That was followed in 1916 by the introduction of the Mikrograph, the world’s first 1/100^th of a second chronograph. The Swiss company also famously developed state-of-the-art timing systems for Formula 1 in the 1970s, heralding the birth of the precision sport we know today. 

This new development is the latest in a series of partnerships that have brought TAG Heuer and football together all over the world. TAG Heuer is the Official Timekeeper of the Premier League, the Spanish LaLiga, the German Bundesliga, Major League Soccer in the USA, the Copa America, the Chinese Football Association Super League and the Australian National Football team. 

In July, TAG Heuer became the Official Timekeeper and Global Partner of one of the world’s biggest and most historic football clubs, Manchester United. 

Jean-Claude Biver, TAG Heuer’s chief executive said: ‘This is not a gimmick – this is a real tool that referees can and will actually use during games. It takes advantage of the Connected watch’s sophisticated technology, which we developed at TAG Heuer with our partners Intel and Google. Because every detail of the referee app has been thought through with Premier League referees, I have no doubt that this will be a useful tool.  TAG Heuer is extremely proud to be working with the Premier League and its officials and to provide referees with Connected watches, which combine the best of Swiss watchmaking with the best of Silicon Valley.’

Mike Riley, former Premier League referee and General Manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited said: ‘Refereeing a Premier League game is a demanding job and requires 100% concentration on every part of the game. The introduction of the TAG Heuer Connected watch and the TAG Heuer referee app is a welcome addition. Knowing they have an accurate, reliable, high-functioning device on their wrist to keep track of game time will give referees extra confidence and leave them to focus on refereeing the match.’