In the competitive landscape of Swiss watchmaking, new collaborations emerge frequently, but few manage to encapsulate the spirit of their subject with the authenticity and technical prowess of the NORQAIN Wild ONE Skeleton Stan the Man Limited Edition. This timepiece is the result of a close partnership with three-time Grand Slam tennis champion Stan Wawrinka. It is a calculated and deeply personal tribute to an athlete known for his formidable power and precision on the court. Limited to just 85 pieces, a nod to Wawrinka's birth year of 1985, this watch presents a compelling fusion of advanced material science, horological craftsmanship, and the narrative of a celebrated sports career.
NORQAIN, founded in 2018, has quickly established itself as a significant independent, family-owned brand operating from Nidau, Bienne, the very heart of the Swiss watch industry. Despite its youth, the company has demonstrated a clear and ambitious vision, focusing on creating robust, high-performance mechanical sports watches. Their philosophy is rooted in a spirit of adventure and independence, a narrative reinforced by a board that includes respected industry veterans and elite athletes. This connection to the world of high-stakes sport is not merely a marketing angle but a core component of the brand's identity, making the collaboration with a figure like Stan Wawrinka a natural and logical progression.
Courtesy of NORQAIN
The brand's trajectory has been marked by a commitment to quality and innovation. NORQAIN's collections—Independence, Adventure, and Freedom—are exclusively fitted with mechanical automatic movements, a testament to their dedication to traditional watchmaking principles. Furthermore, their strategic collaborations for movement development, including two Manufacture Calibres with Kenissi and a flyback chronograph with Manufacture AMT, underscore a serious commitment to technical substance. This foundation of horological credibility provides the perfect platform from which to launch a tribute piece that must meet the demanding standards of both watch collectors and a world-class athlete.
Stan Wawrinka, affectionately known as "Stan the Man," is a figure in the tennis world who commands immense respect. His career is defined by perseverance and the ability to challenge and overcome the sport's greatest titans. His powerful one-handed backhand is one of the most iconic shots in modern tennis, a blend of force and technical skill that perfectly mirrors the design ethos of the watch bearing his name. Wawrinka's three Grand Slam victories—the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open, and the 2016 US Open—are landmark achievements in a highly competitive era, and it is these triumphs that form the commemorative core of this special edition timepiece.
The partnership between NORQAIN and Stan Wawrinka, initiated in 2024, extends beyond a simple ambassadorship. Wawrinka serves as a business partner, indicating a deeper level of involvement and belief in the brand's mission. This collaborative spirit is evident in the watch's design, which is filled with personal details and functional considerations that reflect his input. The watch is not just named for him; it is a product of his perspective as an athlete who understands the demands of performance under pressure. It is a tool designed to withstand the rigors of professional play, a rare claim for a mechanical skeleton watch.
Ben Küffer, NORQAIN's Founder and CEO, speaks to the personal nature of this project. He refers to Wawrinka not just as a tennis legend but as a close friend, emphasizing the enjoyment and fun involved in the creative process. This sentiment highlights a key aspect of NORQAIN's approach: a passion that drives the creation of products that are both technically proficient and emotionally resonant. The result is a design that is intended to connect with Wawrinka's extensive fanbase and the broader watch community on a more personal level.
Courtesy of NORQAIN
For his part, Stan Wawrinka has expressed his immense honor in having such a technologically advanced timepiece created in his name. He specifically points to the innovative inclusion of actual tennis ball fibers as a deeply personal touch. Critically, he also validates the watch's performance credentials, noting the impressive shock resistance of the Wild ONE models. His confirmation that it is a watch professional tennis players can genuinely wear on the court gives the timepiece a level of functional legitimacy that few other athlete collaborations can claim. It is stylish, lightweight, and genuinely practical for its intended environment.
Visually, the watch makes an immediate and bold statement. The color palette is dominated by a deep, matte black and a vibrant, electric yellow-green. This high-contrast combination is directly inspired by the color of a tennis ball, creating an unmistakable connection to the sport. The aesthetic is modern, aggressive, and highly technical. The intricate, openworked dial draws the eye inward, while the robust, multi-part case construction projects an aura of extreme durability. It is a design that is both complex in its details and cohesive in its overall sporting theme.
The case construction is a masterclass in modern material engineering. The main structure, comprising the top and bottom cage components, is crafted from NORTEQ®. This is NORQAIN's proprietary carbon fiber composite, which is notable for being extremely light yet incredibly strong. The material has a subtle, layered black finish that absorbs light, giving the watch a stealthy and purposeful appearance. This advanced composite ensures that the watch, despite its substantial 42mm diameter, remains comfortable and unobtrusive on the wrist, even during vigorous activity.
Sandwiched between the two black NORTEQ® sections is a bright yellow-green rubber shock absorber. This element is not only a key part of the watch's aesthetic identity but also a crucial functional component. It is designed to absorb and dissipate impacts, protecting the sensitive mechanical movement within. This construction is what enables the watch to withstand the violent shocks and vibrations of a professional tennis match. The vibrant color provides a brilliant flash of visual energy, outlining the case profile and creating a distinctive look that is visible from a distance. The inner container and case back, which house the movement, are made from sandblasted titanium, further contributing to the watch's favorable strength-to-weight ratio.
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The case specifications are thoughtfully balanced for a modern sports watch. The 42.00mm diameter and 49.40mm lug-to-lug distance give it significant presence without being overwhelming for most wrist sizes. A thickness of 12.30mm is relatively slim for a watch with this level of shock protection and 200 meters of water resistance. The screw-down crown, overmolded with black rubber for enhanced grip, and the flat, double anti-reflective sapphire crystal are practical features that reinforce its utility as a go-anywhere, do-anything timepiece.
One of the most unique and talked-about features is the NORQAIN plate affixed to the left side of the case. For this limited edition, the plate has been developed in collaboration with BIWI and is infused with actual fibers from tennis balls. This tangible connection to the sport is a clever and innovative detail that sets the watch apart. The plate is finished with a yellow-green "NORQAIN" engraving, adding another layer of coordinated color and branding to the intricate case design.
The dial of the Wild ONE Stan the Man is a compelling display of mechanical artistry. It is an openworked black structure, skeletonized to reveal the NORQAIN Caliber NB08S movement ticking away beneath. The architecture of the skeletonization is geometric and modern, with bridges and plates cut away to create a sense of depth and complexity. Yellow-green printed accents on the dial's chapter ring and other elements tie the face of the watch directly to the external color scheme, ensuring a harmonious design.
Legibility is maintained through the use of bold, diamond-cut flat skeleton indexes plated in rhodium. Each index features a spot of yellow-green X1 Super-LumiNova®, ensuring that the time can be read in low-light conditions. The diamond-cut faceted hour and minute hands are similarly rhodium-plated and feature tips filled with the same vibrant yellow-green lume. The seconds hand is a slim, rhodium-plated stick, but its tip is filled with white X1 Super-LumiNova® and outlined in a contrasting bright red, adding a subtle but dynamic third color to the dial's composition.
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Powering this intricate machine is the NORQAIN Caliber NB08S. This is a mechanical automatic skeleton movement that provides the reliability and precision expected of a high-end Swiss sports watch. The movement's performance is officially guaranteed by its Chronometer certification from the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC). This independent certification ensures that the movement has passed rigorous tests for accuracy and consistency across various positions and temperatures, holding it to a standard of -4 to +6 seconds of deviation per day.
The NB08S operates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz), which allows for a smooth, sweeping motion of the seconds hand. It is built with 26 rubies to reduce friction on critical components and offers a power reserve of 41 hours when fully wound. The movement's finishing, visible through both the dial and the caseback, includes a personalized NORQAIN oscillating weight, which is responsible for automatically winding the mainspring through the motion of the wearer's wrist.
The tribute to Stan Wawrinka is most explicitly rendered on the watch's caseback. An open design with a flat sapphire crystal provides another view of the NB08S movement. Printed onto the inside of this crystal is a silhouette of Stan in a celebratory pose, along with the moniker "Stan the Man." Crucially, the dates of his three career-defining Grand Slam victories are also inscribed, serving as a permanent record of his greatest achievements in the sport. This detail transforms the watch from a high-performance instrument into a piece of sporting memorabilia.
Completing the package is an integrated rubber strap designed specifically for this model. The strap continues the black and yellow-green theme and features a distinctive molded pattern inspired by the mesh of a tennis net. This textural detail is another thoughtful nod to the world of tennis, adding to the watch's cohesive design language. It is fitted with either a black NORTEQ® pin buckle or a more substantial black DLC-coated Titanium Folding Clasp, offering options for customer preference.
The presentation of the Wild ONE Skeleton Stan the Man edition is as unique as the watch itself. Each of the 85 pieces is delivered in a special collector's box. This bespoke package includes not just the timepiece but also an authentic tennis ball, personally signed by Stan Wawrinka. A visual of the champion and a commemorative plate engraved with his Grand Slam victory dates are also part of the set, elevating the unboxing experience and reinforcing the watch's status as a true collector's item.
Courtesy of NORQAIN
The official unveiling of this special edition was strategically timed to coincide with the anniversary of Wawrinka's 2016 US Open victory. The launch event, held at Bucherer in New York on August 21, 2025, brought together Stan Wawrinka, Ben Küffer, and NORQAIN Co-founder Mark Streit to present the watch to the world. This event solidified the narrative of a close, celebratory partnership and provided a fitting stage for a watch that honors a champion's legacy.
The NORQAIN Wild ONE Skeleton 42mm Stan the Man is available as a limited edition of 85 pieces worldwide. The watch is priced at $6,990. This positions it as a competitive offering in the market for technologically advanced, limited-edition sports watches from independent brands. For enthusiasts of both tennis and horology, it represents a rare opportunity to acquire a timepiece that is not only a robust and precisely engineered instrument but also a meaningful celebration of excellence, determination, and one of tennis's most respected champions.
Case: Black NORTEQ® carbon fibre cage with a yellow-green rubber shock absorber and a sandblasted titanium container. 42.00mm diameter, 12.30mm thickness, 49.40mm lug-to-lug, 22.00mm lug width. 200m water resistance. Screw-down crown. Open case back with "Stan the Man" printing.
Movement: NORQAIN Caliber NB08S, mechanical automatic skeleton movement. COSC-certified chronometer. 41-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph (4Hz) frequency, 26 rubies.
Dial: Openworked black dial with yellow-green printings. Diamond-cut, rhodium-plated skeleton indexes and hands with yellow-green and white X1 Super-LumiNova®. Red outlined tip on the seconds hand.
Strap: Integrated black and yellow-green rubber strap with a "tennis net" pattern. Black NORTEQ® pin buckle or optional black DLC Titanium Folding Clasp.
Price: $6,990
Reference Number: N3000.07Q25.B29
Notes: Limited to 85 pieces worldwide. The NORQAIN plate on the left side of the case is infused with fibers from an actual tennis ball. The sapphire caseback features the dates of Stan Wawrinka's three Grand Slam victories.