TAG HEUER & ASTON MARTIN’S PARTNERSHIP
birthday. It’s important to note that for these 40 teens, this bursary would likely make the difference as to whether they get the chance to train with good coaches during their teenage years, a must if they are to compete at a professional level in the future. Roger Federer, for example, started weekly private coaching at the age of 10. With that and a Longines watch as a prize on the line, the kids were putting their futures at stake.
Anyone who can appreciate the competitive nature of sports, myself included, could understand the urgency. Keeping in mind that most of the children were more than half my age, it was hard not to root for them, even if the two Singaporean participants had lost earlier in the tournament (a shout out to Adithya Suresh and Sarah Anne Wong). At the end of it all, only two stood victorious ‒ Switzerland’s Kilian Feldbausch and Spain’s Victoria Jimenez.
Tears were shed by all competitors, girls and boys alike, and the two winners played a mixed doubles exhibition match alongside Longines Ambassadors of Elegance Stefanie Graf and Andre Agassi, as well as the patrons of the 2018 edition, Arantxa Sanchez and Alex Corretja.
Elegance is a Virtue
Tennis has and always will be a sport for the slightly more affluent. Courts need to be booked, equipment needs to be bought
‒ a “higher-SES” type of thing, really. But in watching tennis live, one can really see the difference between this sport and others such as football when it comes to the manners inculcated.
After the conclusion of the Longines
Future Tennis Aces, we had the chance to watch Rafael Nadal square off against Richard Gasquet. One would think that for the audience there, the prospect of getting to watch the King of Clay on the clay courts play against a Frenchman in Paris would be all the reason to go nuts.
Except, it’s tennis.
Sure, in between sets and after balls went out of play, the cheers would sound out. “Allez, Richard!” from the French majority and from the brave, brave few, cries of support for Nadal. But the minute the players got ready, it’s pin-drop silence.
Just think of an EPL football match and how the crowds are constantly singing, chanting, or booing with the added chance of racist slurs being slung at players. The contrast between the two was immense and it became a little clearer as to the partnership between Longines and tennis.
Since its establishment, Longines has always declared elegance a part of its motto and showed it not only in its aesthetic design but also in the process. It was one of the first to do away with the older system of having
watchmakers work remotely, opting instead to bring everyone under one house, the beginning of the “manufacture” manner that most watch brands employ these days.
Even Longines’ ambassadors are referred to as Ambassadors of Elegance. From the likes of Hong Kong superstar Aaron Kwok, to husband and wife Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf who were in Paris with us, the brand has chosen ladies and gentlemen who are the epitome of elegance.
Power Couple
We suppose there aren’t many better ways to show that you exude elegance than actually bettering the world. Most, if not all of Longines’ Ambassadors of Elegance, are heads of charitable foundations, furthering causes to help people in need. Agassi and
Graf are no exceptions, with their work on the Children for Tomorrow and The Andre Agassi Foundation for Education charities being some of the most important.
It was fitting then that Longines would commemorate a milestone together alongside the power couple. In celebration of 10 years of partnership between the brand and the couple, Longines officially launched an auction of exclusive Conquest V.H.P. “Stefanie Graf & Andre Agassi Foundations” timepieces during a charity gala dinner that we were fortunate to partake. In true elegant fashion, Walter von Känel, the CEO of Longines, acquired on behalf of the brand, the first pieces numbered 1/10 for USD100,000, to be displayed in the brand’s museum in SaintImier, Switzerland.
The look on Agassi and Graf’s faces was one of absolute appreciation and it was obvious to anyone in the room that the decade-long partnership between both sides was filled with mutual respect and admiration. Through the night, von Känel took the opportunity to share the many milestones that both Agassi and Graf had set with the brand with regard to raising money and awareness for children in need all across the world.
Longines has always reminded us that elegance is an attitude, and what is an attitude if not showing that you care. AM