Keep Calm and Sweep On, the Oak & Oscar Jackson Curling Watch

If you’re like me, you’re one of the millions of people that were glued to their TV sets during the recent 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. While there were many highlights, the one that sticks out in my mind is the performance of the US mens curling team. 9.2 million people tuned in to watch this ragtag bunch of suburban (looking) dads win the all-time first gold medal for Team USA curling. To celebrate their 10-7 win over Sweden, the team’s second position curler Matt Hamilton contacted Oak & Oscar’s Chase Fancher about making a special watch for his coach. While Hamilton initially asked for an engraving of the match date on the caseback, Fancher responded “I think I can do better than that.”
 

The underlying template for this unique piece was Oak & Oscar’s Jackson chronograph. Released in 2017, this flyback chronograph utilizes a manually wound Eterna 3916 column wheel flyback chronograph. Its Swiss Made case measures 40mm and tapers to 20mm lugs where an Indiana made horween leather strap by Woodnsteel attaches.
 

On the Curling edition, a small white curling stone is positioned right above the Oak & Oscar logo at 12 o’clock. Taking it a step further, the words “GOLD 2018” are emblazoned below the brand logo and the caseback has an “2/24/2018” engraving which denotes the date of the gold medal match. Completing this theme are red, white, and blue keepers on a navy-blue leather strap. It’s safe to say this watch has Olympics written all over it, without actually using any of the trademarked Olympics logos.