A limited-edition $5,200 luxury smartwatch made by Hublot will be worn by soccer referees during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The watch, branded as the “Big Bang Referee 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia,” will represent the “very first competition in which the referees are supported by video assistance” on their wrists, according to Hublot. Referees can connect their watch to the Goal Line Technology used by FIFA to determine if an in-play ball fully crossed the goal line, according to Digital Trends.
“It was a specific need expressed by FIFA, and Hublot brought it to life,” the watchmaker said in a statement. “Wanting a customised watch for the referees, FIFA asked Hublot to conceive the perfect watch to accompany them on the pitches during the matches. Hublot designed this connected watch, its first, for the footballing universe.”
The watch will be stacked with a number of features for super fans as well. Fans can choose between “fan dials” that represent the colors of each participating nation for their home screen and the watch will push them notifications about the games they’re interested in.
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Fans wearing the watch can expect alerts about matches 15 minutes before kickoff, as-well-as in-game notifications about yellow and red cards, player changes and goals. When a goal is scored, the watch will vibrate and display the word GOAL on the screen. In between notifications, the screen will display game statistics such as score, number of cards, names of goal-scorers, player substitutions and match time.
The watch, built on Android’s Wear OS, was created with input from both Google and Intel, which also helped design the Tag Heuer Connected Watch, a Hublot sister brand, according to Digital Trends.
SportTechie Takeaway:
The mobile device by Hublot represents an interesting stab at putting technology on the person of referees during games. Refs have increasingly turned to technology to review games and train. The NFL, for example, uses STRIVR, a virtual reality training and content company, to train NFL officials in the offseason by giving them mental reps to better prepare for live-game scenarios. Technology has been increasingly used to enhance refereeing during games as well, evidenced by the wide-scale adoption of video replay technology. With the Zebra chips now in every uniformed NFL player’s shoulder pads and game balls, and providing readings with a six-inch accuracy rate, there’s now talk that artificial intelligence might one day serve as a legitimate backup to human officials. NASCAR has already drastically cut down on the number of officials it needs on pit road thanks to laser technology.