Kickers is a French shoe brand that was created in 1970, and is based in Cholet. The brand has also produced watches, although there isn’t much documentation beyond online listings of individual pieces and surviving contemporary ads.
Benetton
Kickers branding appeared on Benetton Formula 1 cars from 1995 until 1997. At least two Kickers watch Basel Fair ads featuring Benetton Formula 1 imagery are known to exist. A 1996 ad features a “Legend” chronograph, while one from 1997 shows three different “Formula One”-branded models. The commercial and legal nature of the branding is not well documented.
Both ads feature an oval emblem with the words “Official Sponsor of the F1 World Champion”.
A Benetton B195 at the Cité de l’Automobile. (Photo: by Alf van Beem, under CC0 1.0 Universal, via Wikimedia Commons)
Minardi
The Minardi M198 also featured Kickers branding. Whether or not the partnership involved watches is currently unknown.
Related Pages
References
https://www.kickers.co.uk/pages/our-story
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tight-cockpit-side-view-of-michael-schumacher-from-germany-news-photo/2249717691
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jean-alesi-benetton-b196-renault-during-the-japanese-gp-at-news-photo/2159480984
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/gerhard-berger-benetton-b197-renault-with-engineers-news-photo/2160138265
https://watchlibrary.org/en/details/ES-EUROPE_216_1996_002_213
https://watchlibrary.org/en/details/ES-EUROPE_222_1997_002_265