Why sports stars Stanislas Wawrinka, Gianluigi Buffon, and Gary Neville became NORQAIN business partners

“The world is not waiting for another Swiss watch brand,” declares Tobias Kuffer, vice president of NORQAIN. That is a frank but ironic statement to make, especially since his family manufacture was founded by his brother Ben just seven years ago, in 2018.

Nevertheless, it does ring true — there are already around 400 names, from established to micro, in the country, so what is NORQAIN’s reason for being?

If you haven’t been keeping up to date with horology news, here’s a clue: Swiss tennis champ Stanislas Wawrinka, legendary Italian football goalie Gianluigi Buffon, British football veteran Gary Neville, and Canadian ice hockey giant Sidney Crosby are all business partners of the brand.

This marks the recent trend of sports celebrities entering the watchmaking business, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Charles LeClerc’s high-profile 2023 investment in online luxury watch marketplace Chrono24.

In essence, NORQAIN is a watch brand by sportsmen for sportsmen, making high-performance timepieces they’d actually wear. “It’s always been a part of who we are and what we do,” says Kuffer of the business he manages with his founding sibling. “We are the third generation in the watch industry. Our grandfather was a watchmaker, and our dad produced luxury watches for 45 years.”

Ben Kuffer’s resume included a 12-year tenure at Breitling. At the same time, Tobias Kuffer was an intern at Hermes before joining Louis Erard and then a niche company manufacturing super high-end watches and precious metal sculptures. 

When the family-run Breitling was sold to a private equity firm, the writing was on the wall, and the brothers decided they’d strike out on their terms: “We play football and tennis, and wanted to focus on a lifestyle that is our own — sports, mountains, and the great outdoors. It is 100 per cent authentic.”

And the brand’s streamlined collection of three thematic ranges — Independence, Adventure, and Freedom — reflects that indomitable spirit. 

Galaxy of stars

During our video interview, Kuffer is wearing the Independence line’s Wild ONE Skeleton 42mm, which happened to be the same model on the wrist of the most iconic football goalkeeper of all time, Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon, when I met him at the NORQAIN booth at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025 earlier this year. And this brings me to the topic of how so many sporting greats are now part of the business.

From day one, states Kuffer, two Swiss professional ice hockey heroes, Mark Streit and Roman Josi, were already part of the NORQAIN family as co-founders and investors. “Mark is a close friend of my brother Ben, and as you know, Switzerland is quite small, so the celebrity sports people know each other.”

As good timing would have it, three-time Grand Slam and Olympic tennis champion Stanislas Wawrinka, a friend of Josi, had asked NORQAIN to support a padel tournament, and eventually became an investor and global ambassador in 2024. 

Known to be an avid watch collector, “The Stanimal” was excited to be part of creating something that he could wear for every occasion, including during his tennis practice and matches, says Kuffer.

“It is rare to be wearing a watch on the court, as the G-forces could break the movement. He wears the Wild ONE, for which we have a special case construction. He’s always loved colourful outfits, so our dynamic look and vibrant hues also suited him very well.”

In the words of the athlete, who tested the timepieces personally and is involved in the conceptualisation of the new Wild ONE Stan The Man Limited Edition: “What I like about NORQAIN is that I truly embody the brand’s motto — ‘my life, my way’. I live a very active lifestyle, and I appreciate being able to wear my watch while playing tennis without worrying about it. It’s shock-resistant, practical, and lightweight, which makes it the perfect companion on and off the court. But more than anything, what appeals to me most is being part of a young and ambitious brand that’s not afraid to try, fail, and improve — that’s how I approached my career, too.”

To that, Kuffer elaborates, “The most important part for us is that we share the same values and a personal relationship. If you don’t get along or have the same vibes, it’s unlikely to be a long-term relationship. Fortunately, with Stan, we are completely aligned in our values and vision of working together into the future. The number of people we would be willing to allow to invest in our family business is very limited, and we intend to keep it that way. But for those who did, it indicates a lot of our trust and confidence.”

Aside from helping to propel the brand’s visibility worldwide, Wawrinka started the ball of celebrity involvement rolling. This March, Gigi Buffon was announced as a business partner for the Italian market, while Gary Neville pitched in for the UK and Ireland subsidiary. Hot on their heels, in April, was Sidney Crosby, captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League.

Kuffer concedes that the events leading to Gigi Buffon’s involvement sound “fake”, but they happened. The brothers were discussing how getting a massive star like him aboard would be “unbelievable”, but before they knew it, the brand’s Italy subsidiary CEO, Patrizia Aste, was seated next to Buffon’s wife at a dinner party.

“It’s such a big coincidence, and things proceeded very fast. Gigi hopped on a call with us and immediately, everything clicked. He’s always smiling, happy, and in a good mood. And as an Italian dad and a big family guy, our business resonated with him.”

Buffon’s NORQAIN appointment came right after the announcement of his expanded role from Italy’s national team delegation head to its sporting director last year — and both are environments that he thrives in, says the footballer.

“NORQAIN is a team with a pulse — a young company that dares to do things differently, that moves with purpose. There’s a kind of energy I recognise from the locker room: ambitious, fearless, and unwilling to follow the usual script,” he adds.

As for Gary Neville, who is a multi-millionaire sports entrepreneur in his own right, Ben Kuffer had taken “a more traditional approach”. Reveals Tobias Kuffer, “Growing up, my brother and I were big Manchester United fans, and thought he’d be the perfect guy. If we want to build a powerhouse in the UK, we need him. Ben reached out to his management via Instagram, and we quickly got on a call with Gary, which went brilliantly. He gets tapped a lot for business opportunities, but for him, it’s about the people.”

Friends for friends

If any more evidence that Lady Luck was shining down on NORQAIN is required, one should look at the watchmaker who lent his weight to the fledgling brand. It’s none other than Jean-Claude Biver, the industry legend behind the modern revivals of Blancpain and Omega, and elevating Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Zenith. 

Joining the independent house as board advisor and mentor in 2022, he was instrumental in conceiving the Wild ONE collection, which is centred around the groundbreaking NORTEQ carbon-composite material.

Insisting on the highest manufacturing and design standards with a “zero compromise” ethos, he orchestrated supply from Swiss manufacturers to realise the colourful, shock-resistant case that is six times lighter than steel and 3.5 times lighter than titanium.

And it’s more than serendipitous that Biver, intrigued by the upstarts, was the one who made the first move. “He sent an email to my brother Ben and offered his help. And a couple of days later, he was here in our office in Bienne. Mr Biver said, ‘Look, I’ve been receiving and taking from the watch industry for 45 years. Now is my time to give back, and I’ve been waiting for a young Swiss brand with Swiss owners to do that’,” recalls Tobias Kuffer. “For us, it’s like winning the lottery.”

Striking gold indeed, NORQAIN has rapidly grown from 75 international points of sale in 12 countries (also referred to as “doors”) in 2019 to an impressive 410 doors in 45 nations projected by the end of this year. Instead of the budgeted 1,000 watches for its first year, it made 4,000.

There were six employees at the beginning, ballooning to 80 globally, with an average age of 30 to 35, today. Kuffer estimates NORQAIN’S current production to be between 10,000 and 15,000.

“Especially considering that Covid-19, wars, and geopolitical situations didn’t make it easier, we’re delighted with the results. I think if you told us seven or eight years ago that those would be the numbers we’d see, we would have said, ‘You’re crazy.’”

The secret to its success, reasons Kuffer, is that NORQAIN doesn’t see itself as just a watch brand. “We love the tradition of Swiss watchmaking, but we want to be the breath of fresh air in a very conservative industry without trying to reinvent the wheel and do pyramid-shaped watches or something like that. It’s a lifestyle, a spirit, a community. It’s about passion, independence, adventure, and challenging the status quo.”

Rallying around this philosophy are over 30 NORQAINERS — international athletes and explorers, including Singapore’s very own champion kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder — who endorse the brand today. “What makes us really happy and proud is that a lot of them approached us, and it’s not even about them wanting to receive money. They are a community in themselves, including our customers,” states Kuffer.

“I also don’t know any other brand that has inducted sporting celebs as business partners, but talking about being authentic, that made absolute sense for us. We don’t want to follow the traditional ambassador model of paying a super-famous person a lot of money for two years, only to have them switch to another brand that pays more afterwards. The honour of having so many people who truly like our spirit and what we stand for is a great one.”