Video referee watches: officiating technology on the wrist
For decades, the referee's watch was essentially used to keep track of the 45 minutes of each half, stoppages and extra time. With the arrival of goal-line technology and the video assistant referee, the referee's wrist became one of the points of contact between the game and an extensive electronic infrastructure installed in the stadium.
Although people often talk about the “VAR watch”, the expression can be misleading. The referee does not watch replays or make video review decisions on the watch. The device is used mainly to measure time and to receive alerts linked to other refereeing support systems.
What does the VAR system actually consist of?
The video assistant referee system is made up of cameras, video servers, replay operators, communication systems and a team of referees based in a video operation room.
At the 2022 World Cup, the video refereeing team had access to 42 broadcast cameras, including eight slow-motion and four ultra-slow-motion cameras. Slowed-down footage was used mainly for factual situations, such as establishing the point of contact in a foul, while footage at normal speed helped in assessing more subjective situations.
Communication between the video room and the referee takes place through the audio system used by the refereeing team. When the VAR identifies a possible clear error, they tell the main referee verbally, and the referee can either accept a piece of factual information or go to the monitor placed beside the pitch to review the footage.
The watch is part of this ecosystem, but it replaces neither the earpiece nor the monitor.
The referee's watch
At major international tournaments, referees wear electronic watches prepared specifically for managing a football match.
These devices make it possible to keep track of:
regulation time;
half-time;
added time;
extra time;
penalty shoot-outs.
At the tournaments where Hublot was FIFA's official timekeeper, referees received their own versions of the Big Bang e, different from the commercial models sold to the public. The brand stated that the special watch supplied to referees at the 2020 European Championship helped manage playing time and extra time and was connected to goal-line technology and to the VAR control system.
It is important to interpret this connection correctly. The watch works as a terminal within an integrated technical set-up. It is not on the watch that the referee analyses footage or holds detailed conversations with the video assistant referee.
Goal-line technology on the wrist
The most clearly documented electronic function of referees' watches is receiving the signal from goal-line technology, known by the English abbreviation GLT — Goal-Line Technology.
The system used by FIFA relies on 14 high-speed cameras mounted on the stadium roof. The cameras track the ball and determine whether it has completely crossed the goal line. When that happens, the information is transmitted in less than a second exclusively to the referees' watches.
The watch normally gives:
a vibration;
a visual alert;
a goal indication.
This communication is direct and immediate. No monitor review is needed, because goal-line technology seeks to answer only one factual question: did the ball go in completely or not?
If the system stops working, the referees and the teams are informed. In that situation, possible goals can be analysed by the video refereeing team using the cameras available.
It is therefore goal-line technology — and not VAR as such — that has the most direct and visible link to the referee's watch.
Hublot Big Bang Referee 2018
Hublot's association with referees' electronic watches gained particular prominence at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The brand developed a special version of its connected watch for use by the refereeing team. The device combined the usual timekeeping functions with tools adapted to the structure of a football match.
For the public, a commercial version was launched with information about fixtures, teams and match events. However, this version aimed at fans should not be confused with the device issued to the referees.
The professional model was integrated into the competition's technical equipment and was not simply a conventional smartwatch with a football app.
Hublot Big Bang e at the 2022 World Cup
At the World Cup in Qatar, the 129 members of the refereeing team used the Hublot Big Bang e FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Hublot presented it as a support tool for referees and highlighted its high-definition screen and its match timeline function.
The commercial model ran the Wear OS operating system and had a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, GPS, a microphone, a speaker, an accelerometer and a gyroscope. The app recorded the start of each half, goals, cards, extra time and penalties.
Despite the outward similarities, it is again necessary to distinguish the commercial watch from the device configured for referees. The notifications intended for fans were supplied by the competition's data services; the official refereeing alerts came from the certified systems installed in the stadium.
Semi-automated offside
At the 2022 World Cup, the semi-automated offside system added a new technological layer to the work of VAR.
Twelve special cameras installed under the stadium roof tracked the ball and up to 29 points on each player's body, 50 times per second. The information helped to determine precisely the players' positions at the moment of the pass.
Unlike goal-line technology, this information was not initially sent to the referee's watch as a final decision. The data went to the video refereeing team, which validated the situation before communicating the decision to the pitch.
The watch therefore remained an auxiliary device. The analysis stayed on the computers and monitors in the video room.
The pitchside monitor
When a decision depends on the referee's interpretation — for example, the intensity of a tackle, a possible handball or a foul before a goal — the VAR can recommend an on-field review.
The referee then goes to the so-called Referee Review Area, where there is a protected monitor connected to the video system. An operator selects the angles and playback speeds requested by the refereeing team.
It is on this monitor, and not on the watch, that the visual review of the incident takes place.
The watch continues to keep time and to receive the signals it has been configured for, while communication with the VAR takes place through the radio system and the earpieces.
A set of distinct technologies
Modern refereeing brings together systems that are often confused:
Referee's watch
Keeps time and can receive certain electronic alerts.
Goal-line technology
Determines whether the ball has completely crossed the line and sends a visual and vibrating signal to the watch.
Communication system
Connects the referee, the assistants, the fourth official and the video refereeing team.
VAR
Makes it possible to review footage of situations involving goals, penalties, direct red cards and cases of mistaken identity.
Review monitor
Shows the referee the footage selected during an on-field review.
Semi-automated offside
Combines tracking cameras, positional data and computer systems to support offside decisions.
The watch is part of this set-up, but it does not combine all these functions on its own.
From stopwatch to electronic terminal
The evolution of referees' watches mirrors the transformation of football itself.
The mechanical watch and the separate stopwatch gave way to digital instruments with specific modes for each phase of the match.
The watch nevertheless retains its original function — measuring time — and takes on a new one: delivering essential information immediately and discreetly, straight to the wrist.
From mechanical watchmaking to the connected watch: the evolution of referees' watches
1930–1960: the mechanical stopwatch
At the first World Cups, the referee would normally rely on a mechanical wristwatch and, in many cases, a pocket stopwatch. FIFA imposed no standardisation whatsoever on the equipment used.
Accuracy depended solely on the quality of the mechanical movement and the regularity of its winding. A deviation of just a few seconds a day was perfectly acceptable for use on the pitch.
1960–1980: the first specialised watches appear
The spread of chronographs and the appearance of the first electronic watches made it possible to develop instruments designed specifically for refereeing.
One of the most interesting examples is the Omega Seamaster Soccer Timer, although it was never an official FIFA watch.
Launched in 1969, the Omega Seamaster Soccer Timer (ref. 145.020) is one of the few watches designed specifically for football referees. The Soccer Timer adds a dedicated graphic scale that helps read the regulation 45 minutes.
Inside it uses the famous Omega calibre 861, the same manual-winding movement that powered the Speedmaster Professional of the time, making it one of the most singular pieces of sports watchmaking.
A few years later, Seiko introduced several Soccer Timer models, already equipped with quartz technology and benefiting from the enormous advantage in accuracy brought about by the revolution that began with the Astron in 1969.
The Seiko Soccer Timer appeared at the end of the 1970s, in the period when Seiko was official timekeeper of the 1978, 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups. Among the most emblematic models is the Seiko Speed-Timer 7017-6000, whose dial has a dedicated scale for Basket Ball and Soccer, designed to make it easier to read the regulation times of these sports.
Unlike the Omega Seamaster Soccer Timer, which used a dedicated mechanical chronograph, Seiko's approach favoured legibility and accuracy, reflecting the Japanese brand's strong commitment to sports timing, which would make it a world reference in the decades that followed.
The quartz revolution/crisis
The shift to quartz movements profoundly changed the role of the referee's watch.
Whereas a good mechanical movement could deviate by around ±10 seconds a day (or more, depending on regulation and conditions of use), a quartz module reduced that error to just a few seconds a month.
More importantly still, it became possible to incorporate:
programmable countdowns;
audible alarms;
multiple stopwatches;
time memory;
independent timers for each half.
These functions would have been practically impossible to implement in a purely mechanical movement while keeping dimensions compatible with a wristwatch.
The first wrist computers
During the 1980s and 1990s, brands such as Casio, Seiko and Timex explored the potential of multifunction digital watches.
Referees began to use devices with:
two independent stopwatches;
repeating timers;
multiple alarms;
electroluminescent lighting;
greater resistance to shocks and water.
Despite these improvements, the watch remained completely self-contained. It did not communicate with any external system.
A new chapter in the history of watchmaking
If observatory chronometers represented the pinnacle of precision mechanical timekeeping and sports chronographs marked watchmaking's expansion into motor racing and aviation, today's referee watches inaugurate a new category.
They are no longer merely instruments capable of measuring time.
They are human-machine interfaces integrated into distributed systems for data acquisition, real-time communication and electronic validation of decisions.
Paradoxically, they still fulfil exactly the same mission as the watches used by referees in 1930: ensuring that a football match lasts its regulation time. The difference lies in everything that happens invisibly around them.
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