Axia Time CEO Describes Custom Watches for FIFA and U.S. Secret Service

Custom-watch supplier Axia Time has put two institutional clients on the record. According to WatchPro’s August 26 report, CEO John Kanaras described work producing watches for FIFA and for the United States Secret Service — not as catalogue SKUs, but as contract pieces with crests, specifications and delivery schedules that look more like procurement than retail.

Institutional watches are an old business. Airlines, navies and sports federations have commissioned marked timepieces for decades. What changes is who gets the contract as Swiss maisons concentrate on boutique product. Mid-size custom houses fill the gap: a logo that must be correct, a movement that must be serviceable, and a price that survives a purchasing department.

What “Custom for FIFA / Secret Service” Usually Means

According to WatchPro, Kanaras’s comments sit in that contract-watch lane. FIFA-related pieces are typically presentation or official-use watches tied to tournaments or federation identity. Secret Service-related pieces are typically issued or commemorative watches for an agency whose public-facing design language is conservative: dark dials, durable cases, readable hands. Neither category is a limited boutique drop aimed at collectors.

Collectors should not read a Secret Service contract as a new tool-watch standard, or a FIFA watch as a World Cup limited edition in the Rolex sense. The product is the brief. When the client is an institution, the design committee is not Hodinkee’s comment section.

Why Contract Watches Matter to Builders Anyway

Custom work at institutional scale is a reminder that most watches are specified, not dreamed. Dial printing, case marking and movement choice follow a checklist. Seiko-mod builders already work that way, minus the purchase order. A GMT for travel, a diver bezel for a look, a sapphire because the mineral crystal scratched. The difference is documentation. FIFA will have a brand-use file; a first build often has a screenshot.

If the brief is a travel watch, the movement decision is still NH34 versus a three-hander. That comparison is the same one in the NH35 vs NH36 vs NH34 movement guide. If the brief is a GMT case and bezel that actually line up, the assembly path is the one in the Seiko GMT mod build guide.

Kanaras going on the record also shows how the industry talks when the customer is not a collector. There is no waitlist theatre. There is a delivery date. That tone is closer to how parts sellers should talk about tolerances than to how launch videos talk about heritage.

FAQ

Who is Axia Time?
A custom-watch company. According to WatchPro, CEO John Kanaras discussed contract work for FIFA and the U.S. Secret Service.

Are these watches on public sale?
Institutional contracts are typically fulfilled to the client. Public leftover or commemorative sales, if any, are a separate decision and were not the point of the WatchPro remarks.

Does a Secret Service watch imply a new movement?
Not from the report. The story is custom supply and client identity, not a calibre launch.

According to WatchPro’s August 26 coverage, Kanaras’s point is that a large share of the industry still makes watches for organisations, not only for forums.