For those who want to wear their basketball passions on their wrists, Tissot has created a line of leather straps for its Supersport watches to mark the N.B.A.’s 75th anniversary season.
“Our partnership with the N.B.A. serves as inspiration for our watches and we are proud to be able to create models that channel that free spirit and street style that illustrates the N.B.A.,” Sylvain Dolla, chief executive of Tissot, wrote in an email. Since 2015, the brand has been the league’s official timekeeper.
The 23 strap designs were inspired by the uniforms of 11 teams, including the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks (its straps are to debut this month). The range also includes the Wilson strap, crafted from the same leather used to make the N.B.A.’s basketballs. The straps are 22 millimeters (almost nine-tenths of an inch) wide and sell for $45 each on the Tissot website and the brand’s three New York City boutiques.
Sports has long been a popular theme for watch and watch accessory brands. In February, Hublot introduced the Big Bang e Premier League, a limited edition of the brand’s connected watch with the league’s lion logo in its signature purple color. In 2020 the strap company Everest suggested a series of watch band-and-face combos that paid homage to Major League Baseball teams. And since 2019 Invicta has partnered with the N.F.L. on a series of watches featuring team logos on the dials and straps in team colors. At the lower end of the market, there are a wide variety of licensed silicone straps for Apple watches that are designed around sports logos and uniforms.
Tissot said it planned to release three new models in the Supersport line this year, including a black version with a yellow second hand, and another with blue and silver features, all of which would be able to accommodate the N.B.A. straps.
“You can keep the steel bracelet for business occasions and switch it up for the weekend,” Mr. Dolla said.
