It’s been a long time in the making, but we’re excited to announce that we will be sponsoring our first UK Pro Cycling event this coming August 29th. You can download the official race poster at Aug 29th 2010 UK Pro Cycling Poster. You can also check out pictures of our partner team on Flickr and watch a quick video clip taken during the testing period.

Why did Marvin decide to embark on such a venture?  Especially since our company has been famously involved with airlines and auto racing since the early 20th century. Why add Pro Cycling now?

The number one reason is rather opportunistic, to be honest. Few if any other watch companies are involved with cycling. Yes, Festina is known to be associated with the Tour de France but short of that, it’s a fairly open field out there. Professional cycling is a very old sport. It is popular in most of the world, and is watched and/or attended by millions of people (aggregated) every year. So we figured, why not support a sport with such great history and popularity. What’s more, British people appreciate cycling as much as watches!

More importantly, when you think about the sport, you can’t help but visualize the racer’s physical and mental struggle as he pedals through countless peaks and valleys, ups and downs. In the end, his persistence pays off, but the road to success is paved with both failure and success, hardship and elation. Resilience, courage and determination are what drives professional cyclists. And the same values have kept Marvin alive and kicking for now 160 years. So to me, it made sense to partner up with professional cycle racing. It’s all in the family.

In order to seed this effort, we wanted to pick a flagship watch model for the team. We decided on the M108 from our ORIGIN collection for several reasons. First, the simplicity and ensuing clarity of the big digit display in a wide variety of colors. Second, the resilience and toughness of the mechanical Sellita SW200 engine. Third, the rubber bracelet and quick-action butterfly clasp with its ability to resist sweat.  And fourth, it was the model the racers preferred! – So we put the M108 through several weeks of testing on actual courses. And lo and behold, she came out with flying colors.

The winner of our first race on August 29th will become the proud owner of a classy M107 (featured left). A Valjoux 7750-driven classic fit for a Marvin champion.