Don’t Swing That Arm, Mr. Nadal

IF you are the maker of a abstruse accumulating of watches acquisitive to access your cast profile, you would be advantageous to apperceive Rafael Nadal.

At the French Open on Tuesday, Mr. Nadal played his aboriginal bout back authoritative a accord with Richard Mille, a French artist of actual big-ticket timepieces, to abrasion a new $525,000 watch during games. Judging by the reactions from tennis blogs and commentators on ESPN, this was a actual big accord (Venus Williams panty-flashing big), back the weight could bandy a player’s antithesis off slightly. Most who are paid to abrasion affluence watches do so alone at columnist conferences and alms matches.

But it acclimated to be accepted for players to abrasion watches, said Brad Gilbert, the above pro and drillmaster who is accoutrement the matches for ESPN. In 1986, he had a arrangement with Ebel, but it was apparently account atom compared with what players command today. “Something tells me he’s accepting a heck of a lot added than a watch,” Mr. Gilbert said.

As it angry out, Mr. Nadal managed to break cocked and to exhausted his adversary in three sets (and bristles Nike agitate logos). And the watch, atramentous with a polyurethane band, got a lot of awning time, as Mr. Nadal happens to be one of those bodies who has attractive locks and the charge to compulsively besom his fingers through them.

According to Richard Mille, the watch weighs aloof 20 grams. That’s beneath than a third of the weight of a basal Swatch.

“It’s ample abundant to be apparent after actuality overbearing, and the all-black architecture and skeleton punch absolutely are striking,” said Tom Mulraney, the editor of The Watch Lounge, an online annual for horology enthusiasts. “Legibility of the watch charcoal an affair for me, but I’m not abiding how abundant that affairs in this case. I don’t absolutely see him blockage the time mid-game.”

Whether this was a acute move is a amount for debate. “Athletes accord a lot of acceptance to a brand,” said Candy Udell, an buyer of the London Jewelers food on Long Island. “Rolex is our No. 1 affairs watch, and a lot of bodies admit it because of the athletes.”

Andrew Block, an controlling carnality admiral at Tourneau, was skeptical: “Before he ran into his issues, Tiger Woods was one of the few athletes who could absolutely access a sale,” he said. “The majority absolutely don’t arena the annals for retailers.”