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My Favorite Purpose-Built Sports Watch Just Took Its Design to the Literal Extreme

Putting the “sports” in sports watch.

Close-up of a mechanical Norqain wristwatch with a black and neon green color scheme, featuring a skeleton dial that reveals intricate gears and components. The watch has bold, rectangular hour markers, a black bezel, and a textured black strap with green accents. The words "SWISS MADE" are visible near the 6 o'clock position.Norqain
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By Johnny Brayson

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There are sports watches and there are sports watches. The Norqain Wild One Skeleton is the latter.

While I wouldn’t dream of playing an actual sport in most “sports watches,” Norqain’s flagship is different. The watch’s complex 25-part case is made from a mix of titanium, rubber and the brand’s proprietary carbon fiber composite, Norteq. It’s very lightweight and engineered to withstand extreme shocks, and when paired with its rubber strap — one of the most comfortable on the market — it’s perfect for wearing during actual competition.

A Norqain wristwatch with a blue textured strap and a black bezel. The watch face is skeleton-style, showing the intricate inner mechanical gears and components. The watch is placed on a surface with a black and white geometric pattern, and a blue ball with holes is visible in the background.
My go-to watch for playing sports is a Norqain Wild One Skeleton 39mm.
Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

I know from experience, as I own the 39mm version of the watch and use it as my dedicated pickleball watch. If that doesn’t impress you (it should, though, I’m a demon on the court), then just look at the raft of pro athletes who wear Norqain while competing. Chief among them is Swiss tennis star Stan Wawrinka, who has the rare distinction of having won three Grand Slams in the Big Three era without having the name Nadal, Federer or Djokovic.

Wawrinka first wore the original Wild One Skeleton Turquoise on the court during the 2023 U.S. Open. Shortly afterward, he met with the brand and decided not just to become a Norqain ambassador but an investor in the family-owned Swiss brand. Now, just in time for the 2025 U.S. Open, Norqain and “Stan the Man” have debuted a new version of the Wild One Skeleton that’s more specifically suited for tennis than ever before.

Black and neon green Norqain wristwatch with a skeleton dial showcasing the internal gears. The watch features white hour markers and hands with neon green accents, a red-tipped second hand, and a black bezel with neon green minute markers. The strap has a black grid pattern overlaying neon green material.
Norqain’s limited-edition “Stan the Man” is the most sport-specific version of the Wild One Skeleton yet.
Norqain

Tennis anyone?

The Norqain Wild One Skeleton Stan the Man really puts the “sports” in sports watch. It has the same basic competition-ready structure as the regular Wild One Skeleton 42mm, but has undergone a thorough tennis-inspired makeover.

The Wild One Skeleton is well-known for its use of bright colors on its signature rubber shock absorber and strap, and we see that trend continue here. The shock absorber is the same neon yellow-green color as a tennis ball, while the strap mimics the color in a striking degradé treatment — the first time we’ve seen a strap with this sort of color treatment from the brand.

A close-up of a person's hand holding a yellow tennis ball and a tennis racket. The person is wearing a black and neon green Norqain wristwatch with a detailed, partially transparent dial showing the watch's inner mechanics. The tennis racket has a light green frame and a white grip with black and orange accents. The background is dark.
Stan Wawrinka models the new Norqain watch he helped design.
Norqain

In addition to the gradient color, the strap also features a black rubber grid on top that’s meant to evoke the look of a tennis net. Combined with the gradient neon yellow color below, it makes for one of the most complex and eye-catching rubber straps I’ve ever seen.

Most unique of all is the signature Norteq plate on the side of the case. It shares the color of a tennis ball, but it hasn’t been dyed in the traditional sense. The material has actually been infused with the fibers from a tennis ball, meaning actual tennis balls were involved in the production of the watch. It doesn’t get much sportier than that.

Side view of a black and neon green Norqain wristwatch, showcasing the brand name "NORQAIN" on a neon green plate embedded in the watch case. The watch strap is black with neon green accents.
The Norqain side plate’s unique color and pattern were achieved via the infusion of real tennis ball fibers.
Norqain

The bridges of the COSC-certified skeletonized automatic movement have been treated with a black coating, something Norqain has done before on the limited-edition Mint version of the Wild One Skeleton 39mm. I’d love to see the brand incorporate these blackened bridges on all colors of the Wild One Skeleton, as it looks more premium.

The watch’s rhodium-plated hands and indices feature Super-LumiNova X1 lume in the same yellow-green shade as the rubber shock absorber, while the sapphire caseback features an image of Wawrinka along with the dates of his championship victories at the Australian, French and U.S. Opens.

A spherical silver watch box with a black interior, branded with "NORQAIN x STAN THE MAN." Inside the box is a green and black wristwatch, a tennis ball with green markings, a small photo of a man holding trophies surrounded by tennis balls, and a card with three icons and dates. Another closed spherical box is placed beside it.
The commemorative packaging for the watch is highlighted by an enormous chrome tennis ball “box.”
Norqain

Pricing and availability

The Norqain Wild One Skeleton 42mm Stan the Man Limited Edition is limited to 85 pieces, a nod to Wawrinka’s birth year of 1985. The watch comes in quite a stunning package, as the “box” is actually a giant chrome tennis ball that opens up to reveal the watch, along with a tennis ball signed by the man himself.

Norqain’s super-sporty sports watch is priced at $6,990 with a Norteq pin buckle, or you can upgrade to a titanium deployant clasp with a handy microadjustment feature for $7,390. The watch is available to order now directly from Norqain’s website.

Black and neon green Norqain wristwatch with a skeleton dial showing internal gears. The watch has a black case with neon green accents on the bezel and sides. The strap features a black grid pattern over a neon green background. The hour markers and hands are white with neon green details, and the second hand has a red tip.Norqain

Norqain Wild One Skeleton 42mm Stan the Man

Specs

Case Size 42mm
Movement Norqain Cal. NB08S automatic (Sellita base)
Water Resistance 200m
About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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