It’s game time for Breitling. The luxury Swiss watchmaker pulled out all the stops, shutting down Washington Street in New York’s Meatpacking District next to their downtown boutique to throw a one-of-a-kind tailgate party celebrating their multiyear partnership with the National Football League naming Breitling as its official timepiece partner.

The block party brought out Breitling brand ambassador Austin Butler — in town doing press for his new movie “Caught Stealing” —  and a host of football legends including two-time Super Bowl champion and two-time MVP Eli Manning, and former NFL quarterback and Breitling ambassador Boomer Esiason.  

Before the event kick-off, a panel moderated by CBS Sports reporter Amanda Balionis discussed the partnership with Breitling chief executive officer Georges Kern, Breitling U.S. president Thierry Prissert, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell,  Esiason and NBC Sports reporter Maria Taylor.

“The U.S. is by far our number-one market,”  Kern told the room. “The NFL is the most American sport. All its values correspond to our brand. It’s about speed, it’s about power, it’s about tactics, it’s about strategy and it’s about team spirit.”

The Swiss watchmaker already has multiple ties to the sport — Breitling collaborated with the Baltimore Ravens in the 1990s on a limited edition Chronomat, and in 2022, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence became an ambassador. But the new partnership takes things to a new level.

As part of the partnership, Breitling will activate across key NFL events including Super Bowl LX, NFL Honors, and other marquee moments throughout the season. It will also present custom timepieces for select winners at the 2026 NFL Honors, presented during the annual awards ceremony.

“To have a global CEO who believes in us and our brands and the alignment between the two,” Goodell said. “I think that’s the most important thing in any partnership. We share values, but we also share a vision of what this project can do, our product can do, and what we can do together. Fashion, sports, our athletes, they’re all looking to expand their brands on a global basis.”

Global expansion was a key talking point. This fall the league will play seven international games with multiple games in London, and others in São Paulo, Dublin, Berlin and Madrid. Breitling will support the league’s long-term commitment to global expansion by activating at its boutiques around the world in connection with each game host city.  

“We always strive to be ahead of the curve,” the commissioner said of the expansion. “It’s hard when you’re a successful organization, how do you keep achieving that kind of success?”

The partnership comes at a volatile time for the watch market in the U.S. on the heels of the Trump administration imposing 39 percent tariff on imports from Switzerland, one of the highest rates in the world.  As reported in WWD, July figures show Swiss watchmakers and their clients anticipated the bad news as watch exports ticked upward in July.

To commemorate the first-of-its-kind moment, Breitling unveiled two NFL team-edition collections: the Chronomat Automatic GMT and the Endurance Pro, featuring specially designed timepieces for each of the league’s 32 teams.

The partnership will offer fans around the world access to the two NFL team-edition collections. Each of the 32 models in each series features the official team colors and logos. The collections will launch during the 2025 season and will be available worldwide at Breitling boutiques, authorized retailers, and on Breitling.com.

Once the panel ended the real party began with guests including New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart and models Chanel Iman and Olivia Ponton enjoying classic game day bites from a Katz’s Delicatessen and Levain cookies and performances by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, the High and Mighty Brass Band and a set by DJ Harley Viera-Newton.

“We’re going to celebrate a lot of moments of the NFL,” Breitling’s CEO said.  “This just the beginning.“