On Monday May 20th 2019, with the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in full swing, Christophe Claret organized an evening event at the splendid Miramar Hotel in Théoule-sur-Mer, a few minutes from the famous red carpet. Several stars from Hollywood attended the event such as the actress, Rose McGowan. During the cocktail, Christophe Claret officialized its partnership with the Ukrainian boxer Vasyl Lomachenko – winner of one Europe championship title, two Olympic gold medals and three World championship titles – and presented the Loma watch, a mono-pusher chronograph with cathedral-gong striking mechanism and constant force escapement. Born of the collaboration between the watchmaker and the boxer and uniting their shared passions, this watch will be available on the markets from September.
Precision, Rigorous Discipline, Patience, Speed, Elegance and Talent are the shared qualities demonstrated by these two Maestros in their respective arts.
It was on April 12th 2019 that Christophe Claret first met Vasyl Lomachenko in Los Angeles through Saïd Taghmaoui, a famous Franco-American actor who made his breakout in the film La Haine in 1996 and has been the Christophe Claret brand Ambassador since January 2019.
A few hours before their encounter, Vasyl Lomachenko, nicknamed the “Picasso” of world boxing, had achieved yet another masterful feat. In his Los Angeles fight against Englishman Anthony Crolla, Vasyl Lomachenko successfully defended his WBA and WBO lightweight belts by beating his opponent with a spectacular knockout in the fourth round. The Ukrainian boxer had already won the title of Europe champion in Liverpool (2008) in the featherweight category, the title of double Olympic champion – in Beijing (2008) in the featherweight category and in London (2012) in the lightweight category – as well as three World titles in only 12 professional fights: in Chicago (2007) and in Milan (2009) in the featherweight category and in Baku (2011) in the lightweight category.
This alliance between Christophe Claret and “Loma” is no coincidence. In 2013 already, Christophe Claret drew inspiration from the world of boxing based on a simple observation: the ringside boxing bell is one of the most recognizable sounds in sport, signalling the moment boxers go head to head in the ring. A boxing bout is divided into rounds, punctuated by one-minute periods of rest, all announced by the ringside bell. So it’s only natural to mark the start of a chronograph with such a sound. This led to the creation of the Kantharos model – a mono-pusher chronograph with constant force escapement and cathedral-gong striking mechanism, equipped with an ingenious chiming system activated in each mode (start, stop, reset) – that also inspired Christophe Claret in creating the Loma watch.
This new round embodying a rapprochement between Haute Horlogerie and boxing is set to pack a powerful punch!
