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New from Timex and designer Nigel Cabourn, here we have a charming and well thought out “Referee Watch,” meant to pay nostalgic tribute to the “beautiful game” Cabourn and so many others grew up playing.
Cabourn, for the uninitiated, is a British designer who has been producing clothing inspired by history, vintage military garb, outdoor and workwear pieces for over 40 years. There’s a humble and quiet streak to his designs that you could almost think of as a more refined type of streetwear, by a guy who has a decades long jump on that particular trend.
Timex and Nigel Cabourn Referee Watch
- Case Material: Stainless steel
- Dial: Red and cream
- Dimensions: 40mm
- Crystal: Acrylic
- Water Resistance: 50 meters
- Crown: fluted push/pull crown
- Movement: Quartz
- Strap/bracelet: Black leather; multi-striped nylon
- Price: $162
- Expected Release: Available now
The watch is a simple quartz piece, 40mm in size, and its key design element is the dial that has ¾ of its surface area blocked out to signify the passage of 45 minutes, the time allocated to each half a soccer match. There’s a long history or referee’s chronographs that have been introduced for this purpose, but a time-only piece with this dial layout is somewhat unique (and in this case, purely aesthetic), and it pays quiet tribute to a game that is often represented in clothing, accessories, and timepieces in far less subtle ways. 
This watch has a lot of charm, and the dial is really well executed. The font used for the Arabic numerals is clean and modern, and the shade of red chosen is light in color (it’s almost peach) and complements the cream dial and black strap (with leather from S.B. Foot Tanning Co.) that it ships with absolutely perfectly. It also comes with a striped nylon strap and an “army mending kit” pouch.
The Referee Watch from Timex and Nigel Cabourn is available online from Nigel Cabourn. Additionally, the watch will be available at the Nigel Cabourn Army Gym London in Covent Garden; Cabourn stores; select retailers in Japan, Asia and Canada; and from menswear retailer END. Clothing. Nigel Cabourn
