Rolex Is Now the Official Timekeeper of the US Open

White Plains, N.Y.—The US Open has a new (watch) face.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced this week that Rolex has become an official sponsor of the US Open and will serve as the tournament’s official timekeeper and official timepiece.

The multi-year agreement begins immediately as preparations for the 2018 US Open kick off; the event is slated for Aug. 27 to Sept. 9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.

The 2018 US Open marks the event’s 50th anniversary and the first played after completion of the $600 million transformation of the National Tennis Center. It is also the inaugural season of the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, a 14,000-seat state-of-the-art facility and the final piece of the overall expansion.

During the event, Rolex timepieces and clocks will appear throughout the grounds of the Billie Jean King Center. The signature clock placed on the exterior of the Arthur Ashe Stadium also will be a Rolex display.

Rolex also will support the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, rounding out its sponsorship of all nine Masters Series events; the USTA National Campus for tennis activities and programs in Orlando, Florida; and programs of the USTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the USTA that assists under-resourced youth.

Rolex has a 40-year tradition of supporting tennis. It sponsors a number of other events, including the Australian Open, Wimbledon, men’s team tennis tournaments Davis Cup and Laver Cup, BNP Paribas Open, Miami Open, Rogers Cup and more.

The watch company takes over for Citizen, which sponsored the US Open for more than two decades.

When contacted by National Jeweler, a spokesperson for Citizen did not say why the sponsorship ended, noting that the brand “looks forward to focusing its efforts on its newest collaboration with Disney and Marvel,” and also will continue with its passion for tennis by remaining as the official timekeeper of select tournaments within the US Open Series, including the BB&T Atlanta Open, Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, Winston-Salem Open and Connecticut Open.