ith some 400 employees, Swiss Timing is a major player in sports timing but hardly a household name, given that it works exclusively with its Swatch Group stablemates, especially Omega, in their role as official timekeepers at sporting events, from regional competitions up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Preparations for the Paris 2024 Games were in full swing when we returned to Swiss Timing in the Bernese Jura, six years after our previous report in 2018 (read it here), to learn how this specialist service has evolved.

Alain Zobrist, CEO of Swiss Timing

Alain Zobrist, previously Head of Global Sports Marketing at Omega before joining Swiss Timing as CEO, filled us in: “The biggest change since 2018 has been the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), especially for predictive analytics. It means we can supply more data to the athletes themselves and to sports clubs. Swiss Timing has become a veritable data centre and AI helps us make sense of this data.”

He goes on to give examples for the Paris Games: “By analysing large amounts of data, we can identify the favourites far more accurately. We can also provide detailed, real-time analysis during a race,– speed and the number and length of strides – and compare this with the other athletes.”

Movement tracking is another illustration of how AI will be used at the upcoming Games. Artificial intelligence is capable of recognising acrobatic figures, response times and accelerations. “Technology will become more precise than humans,” Alain Zobrist predicts, “although humans will still be in command.”

Timing is now just one aspect of what Swiss Timing does. For example, positioning systems and motion sensors enable precise visualisation of an athlete’s performance characteristics. In fact athletes are the main “clients” for this data, which they use to improve outcomes.

Among the watches Omega is releasing for this Olympic year is a 43mm Speedmaster Chronoscope in the Paris 2024 colours. A silvery white opaline dial is the backdrop for a trio of dark grey timing scales - a tachymeter, a pulsometer and a telemeter - in a 1940s-inspired “snail” design.

“Thanks to AI, we can map the reasons an athlete won or lost a competition, at every point of that event. We use large language models to interpret their performances. Our official title is timekeeper but what we do goes far beyond that,” says Alain Zobrist.

The nuance is that Swiss Timing “doesn’t hold this data, it processes it.” Meaning it collects data which it supplies to athletes, federations, scoreboards, commentators, press agencies and various media using in-house-developed software.

Beyond these technology innovations, another competitive advantage is Swiss Timing’s ability to time and analyse more than 100 sports (chess is one of them!) – only some of which (47 at the Paris Games) are Olympic disciplines – thanks to Swatch Group brands’ involvement with so many different sports.

“As soon as a sport makes its debut at the Games, recent examples being surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding and breaking, we’re ready because we’ve already developed the appropriate tech,” Alain Zobrist explains.

As the medals are handed out at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, you’ll know not just who was fastest or furthest… you’ll know exactly how they did it!