The FIFA World Cup has already kicked off and for the first time, you can wear some of that occasion on your wrist, not as some cheaply made Alibaba special but as an official FIFA-endorsed timepiece. Neither are we talking about shelling out Hublot prices; the Swiss footballer favourite might be on the wrists of refs and players, but they’re not exactly built for the average fan. Now, the job of official FIFA World Cup watch supplier has gone to AXIA Time.
If you’ve not come across AXIA Time before, their newly crowned position as the de facto international football watch might come as something of a surprise. Surely established Swiss watchmakers are clamouring for the opportunity? But the more you look into precisely how AXIA Time approach watchmaking, the more it makes sense. That’s because AXIA have made a name for themselves building custom watches for sports teams.
Back in 1988, AXIA founder John Kanaras was part of the University of Pennsylvania lacrosse team. They didn’t win that season, but they did get far enough that they were given a commemorative watch. A painfully generic commemorative watch. And so, when Kanaras founded AXIA years later, he wanted to do better – and the result has been a slate of colourful watches built around team motifs and liveries at a price point that won’t bankrupt a college football fan.
It’s a big leap in scale from there to the FIFA World Cup, but the idea is much the same: giving football fans a way of commemorating the occasion that goes beyond shirts and scarves. Something more enduring. And it’s a substantial undertaking.
The AXIA Time FIFA World Cup 2026 collection includes the team colours for 14 countries. That’s a far cry from the total 48 that are taking part, and some fans will be disappointed. Kanaras does have his own reasoning for the chosen countries: the three host nations – USA, Canada and Mexico – along with previous champions taking part in 2026 (so no Italy) and the more nebulous idea of nations where football is on the rise – meaning a passionate – and likely to spend fan base.
In the end, that means: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, USA and Uruguay. There’s also a final set in FIFA’s own livery for anyone whose team isn’t represented, bringing the total number of colourways to 15 – and across those 15 there are three different watches.
The flagship model is the Argos, a sleek diver with a professional-level 300m water resistance, sapphire bezel insert and the crown guards to prove that it’s designed as a tool watch more than a showpiece. Regardless of the colours, key elements of the design remain the same across the FIFA collection: the World Cup 2026 logo at 12 o’clock and repeated across the deeply engraved dial, the World Cup manifesto engraved into the rehaut and a custom crown.
Even stripped of its commemorative livery, the Argos is a solid watch for its £1,122 price tag. Along with the FIFA-specific finishing and diving specs, it’s equipped with an ETA 2824 automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve. That’s less autonomy than we’re used to these days, but ETA movements are celebrated workhorse calibres. They’re reliable, accurate and well-finished – and here come with a custom FIFA World Cup rotor. It comes on a charmingly retro five-link bracelet with three smaller, inner links that rounds off the whole 1960s diving watch flavour. Each colourway is limited to 80 watches total.
Next up is the middle child of AXIA’s team-specific trio, the Enosi. This is designed more as a straightforward, versatile, everyday wearer. There’s no diving bezel, no oversized indexes designed to be read underwater and an everyday-appropriate 100m water resistance. The retro steel bracelet has been swapped for an Italian leather band and the ETA movement for a more accessible Sellita number with the same 38-hour power reserve.
It does however have all the same commemorative finishing and just as much team colour across the board. More importantly, it’s also priced at £597, making it almost half the price of the Argos – and much less of an investment. And there’s a lot to be said for the more streamlined look of the Enosi. Not only is it more accessible, the 38mm watch is also more wearable on smaller wrists compared to the 42mm Argos. It too is limited to 80 pieces per livery.
Finally, we come to the most accessible of the three, the Kosmos. This 36mm, quartz-equipped watch comes in at £171. And while the sizing might make the average collector think of it as a women’s watch, the straight lugs, dramatic dial engraving and hidden, push-in crown make it a very distinctive-looking piece on its own merits. It also makes great use of the team colours across its multi-level dial and textured rubber strap. If anything, it’s a watch for younger fans and those who just want to show support rather than spend on a solid mechanical timepiece, reflected by both its lower price tag and higher production run of 400 pieces per colour.
Across the 15 different designs, the AXIA Time FIFA World Cup 2026 collection represents a lot of watches. Though that’s still not many in the context of football fans – especially in the countries that are slightly less apologetic of their teams than England. So, you might not have long before you need to settle for a team scarf over a watch.
Find out more at AXIA Time.
