By Rod McAnally
The Timex Ironman watch is also commonly known as the "Timex Ironman Triathlon Watch", is Timex's flagship product and is one of the best selling sports watches of all time! The watch has been in production since 1986 and with an estimated half a million to a million Triathlon Watches sold each year, it has become the world's best selling sports watch.
Since it's release the sports watch has quickly risen to fame and is now one of the world's most famous icons. Timex Ironman Watches can be seen in the Smithsonian's Museum of American History and are one of a handful of watches that has been certified by NASA to be used in space and have even been used by Russian cosmonauts in their missions.
One thing that has made the Timex running watch so popular is that it is sold at a price that can be afforded by just about anyone. Some people even buy a new model when the batteries run out in their current watch. What is unusual about the Ironman watch is that it is regularly sighted on the wrists of businessmen, doctors and politicians, which goes to show that while a Timex ironman sports watch is an inexpensive watch, it is a value-based brand that is not considered "cheap".
Perhaps one of the keys to the success of the Timex Ironman watch is Timex's willingness to continuously reinvent itself over it's 20 years in the market. This has offered athletes some incredible new features, while making it difficult for it's competitors to keep pace.
Despite the technical achievements of the Timex sport watches, the tie in to the "Ironman" brand was of critical importance to it's success. This came about back in the early 80's when SVP of marketing for Timex, Mario Sabatini was involved in guiding the company's digital watches towards endurance events such as cycling, running and swimming.
Having gathered athlete's feedback on what features they wanted, Sabatini took 1,500 "Timex Triathlon Watches" (The predecessor of the Timex Ironman Watch) to Kona in 1984 to guage the response received from athletes. He realized he had a real winner on his hands, when he sold the entire batch of sports watches for $34.95. Athletes were clamouring to get their hands on the new watch and were taking them off him as fast as they could hand over their money!
Deciding he didn't just want to sponsor the Ironman event, but to acquire the "Ironman" name as part of the brand, Sabatini propositioned the staff of the Ironman for the rights to the "Ironman" name - a radical new concept for them at the time. The rest you can read in the history books. The Timex Ironman Watch had arrived.
Since it's release the sports watch has quickly risen to fame and is now one of the world's most famous icons. Timex Ironman Watches can be seen in the Smithsonian's Museum of American History and are one of a handful of watches that has been certified by NASA to be used in space and have even been used by Russian cosmonauts in their missions.
One thing that has made the Timex running watch so popular is that it is sold at a price that can be afforded by just about anyone. Some people even buy a new model when the batteries run out in their current watch. What is unusual about the Ironman watch is that it is regularly sighted on the wrists of businessmen, doctors and politicians, which goes to show that while a Timex ironman sports watch is an inexpensive watch, it is a value-based brand that is not considered "cheap".
Perhaps one of the keys to the success of the Timex Ironman watch is Timex's willingness to continuously reinvent itself over it's 20 years in the market. This has offered athletes some incredible new features, while making it difficult for it's competitors to keep pace.
Despite the technical achievements of the Timex sport watches, the tie in to the "Ironman" brand was of critical importance to it's success. This came about back in the early 80's when SVP of marketing for Timex, Mario Sabatini was involved in guiding the company's digital watches towards endurance events such as cycling, running and swimming.
Having gathered athlete's feedback on what features they wanted, Sabatini took 1,500 "Timex Triathlon Watches" (The predecessor of the Timex Ironman Watch) to Kona in 1984 to guage the response received from athletes. He realized he had a real winner on his hands, when he sold the entire batch of sports watches for $34.95. Athletes were clamouring to get their hands on the new watch and were taking them off him as fast as they could hand over their money!
Deciding he didn't just want to sponsor the Ironman event, but to acquire the "Ironman" name as part of the brand, Sabatini propositioned the staff of the Ironman for the rights to the "Ironman" name - a radical new concept for them at the time. The rest you can read in the history books. The Timex Ironman Watch had arrived.
Visit our website to learn much more about the Timex Ironman Watch and other leading Timex Sports Watches.
