IWC Portofino Silver Dial Stainless Steel Black Leather Men's Watch 5111-02

It devotes itself to sport and the improvement of society through sport. Every year, the very best sportsmen and sportswomen in the world are honoured at the Laureus World Sports Awards. Its work also includes supporting underprivileged young people in over 60 community projects on every continent through the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Every one of those projects utilises sport as the vehicle for social change.
Laureus World Sports Academy
At the heart of Laureus is the Laureus World Sports Academy, a unique association of the greatest sporting legends. The Academy members, who between them account for 100 Olympic medals, about half of them gold, 100 world titles and 200 world records, share a belief in the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people together and to improve the lives of young people around the world.
The Laureus World Sports Academy is the ultimate sports jury, voting each year to decide the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards and acting as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, volunteering their time to visit projects in order to draw attention to the problems afflicting society today.
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation
The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation supports community projects in places of deprivation throughout the world. Since 2000 the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has funded and promoted initiatives worldwide which use the power of sport to tackle pressing social issues. From the ability to overcome the battle against crime and drugs, to breaking down the barriers of wartorn nations and to regenerate forgotten communities, sport stands alone as a universal language which can be used to educate and to overcome adversity. The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation supports over 60 projects worldwide and since its inception has improved the lives of almost 150,000 children.
Examples of projects include Fight With Insight in Johannesburg, South Africa, a boxing project for young offenders, which aims to channel their aggression into more positive areas. The Magic Bus Sports Programme, in Mumbai, India, which creates "classrooms without walls", and offers sports activities, education, food and healthcare to children who have no choice but to live on the streets, and in some cases those who have been forced into prostitution. In Israel/Palestine, the project Training for Peace, brings young people together through sport from two divided communities.
In Sarajevo, Bosnia, Spirit of Soccer teaches young people to be aware of the risks of 500,000 land mines still remaining in their communities, and in Richmond, Virginia, American teenagers play in a Midnight Basketball League which has helped to tackle drug and crime problems, taking the kids off the street and into the basketball courts. Diverse projects, yet all making a deep impact on their respective communities. Many of the projects are tackling the root of such problems namely drug addiction, poverty, criminality and even AIDS, through sport.
Underprivileged children rub shoulders with the legends of sport
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy regularly visit Foundation projects, bringing much needed publicity and demonstrating to the participants and their leaders that their work has the backing of their communities and the outside world. The Academy aims to promote all that is positive and worthwhile in sport, and to reinforce the work of all those who stand up for fair play, honest effort and the joy of taking part.
Young people who meet Edwin Moses, Mark Spitz, Bobby Charlton, Martina Navratilova or Boris Becker are left with a b, positive impression. These great sporting legends, who simply want to give something back to society in return for everything that sport has given to them, become great role models for the young people. That is why every Academy member is committed to donating his or her time each year to visit projects. Laureus Academy Chairman Edwin Moses explained: "The Laureus World Sports Awards are a way of drawing the world's attention to what really matters - our work with communities with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The greatest thing we can do is change lives for the better through sport."
Eight National Laureus Foundations
Laureus thinks globally and acts locally. This strategy means that the global Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is also supported by several National Sport for Good Foundations. The National Sport for Good Foundations are in Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, USA, South Africa, Spain and in Switzerland. Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen, insists that the company bears a social responsibility: "The privileged people on this planet - and we are among them - must do something to help those who are socially, physically or economically disadvantaged. We as a company bear a social responsibility."
Working alongside the Laureus Academy members are also a large number of Laureus Friends and Ambassadors, a group which includes many current world-class sportsmen and sportswomen who are committed to working to help underprivileged young people within their own countries.
The Laureus World Sports Awards
The Laureus World Sports Awards is considered to be the highest international accolade of its kind. The annual selection of the winners covers all sporting disciplines in a variety of categories. With their superb sporting credentials, who could be better qualified to make the annual selection than the Academy members? The Academy members vote by secret ballot for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, Laureus World Team of the Year, Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year, and Laureus World Comeback of the Year, the nominations for which are made by the Laureus Media Selection Panel, an elite group of the world's most influential sports editors, sports journalists and broadcasters from 125 countries. Academy members also vote for two other categories: Laureus World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year respectively Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year and Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. In addition, the Academy presents, at its discretion, the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award, the Laureus Sport for Good Award and the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award.
The Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy is American athletics legend Edwin Moses, the former double Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion, supported by Vice Chaipersons, Tanni Grey-Thompson from the UK, wheelchair racer and 11 time gold medal-winner, and Boris Becker, from Germany, the tennis legend and three-time Wimbledon champion.

Time for social responsibility

Laureus and IWC

Watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen has joined forces with Laureus, an organisation that combines sport and social commitment at the very highest level. Every year Laureus presents the Laureus World Sports Awards to the best sportsmen and sportswomen from all over the globe, while the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation uses sport as a means of helping to give children and young people a better future.
The man at the helm of IWC Schaffhausen has no fears for the future of the Swiss watchmaking company. "The IWC brand is more successful today than ever before", says CEO Georges Kern. And now the company is using its strength to empower young people in critical social situations. Since 2005, IWC Schaffhausen has been one of the driving forces behind Laureus, an organisation established in 1999 by two successful international companies, Daimler Chrysler (today Daimler) and Richemont. Daimler represented by its Mercedes-Benz brand, while Richemont, which unites numerous well-known brands in the watch, jewellery and writing instrument industries, selected IWC Schaffhausen as its representative. The watch manufacturer has been making high-quality timepieces since 1868 under the motto "Probus Scafusia", good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen. Sportive watches are one of IWC's most important segments besides horological specialities.
Laureus has two central missions: the first of these is its annual Laureus World Sports Awards, given to the world's most outstanding sports performers; the second is the support offered by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation to projects all over the world which help young people in difficult social conditions to help themselves.
The mission of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is to utilise the power of sport to address social challenges through a worldwide programme of sports related community development initiatives, using sport as a tool for social change.

Taking responsibility with social commitment
Georges Kern explains the company's motivation to adopt this commitment as follows: "The privileged people on this planet - and we are among them - must do something to help those who are socially, physically or economically disadvantaged." This clearly does not only apply to individuals but also to the economy as a whole. "We as a company bear a social responsibility." And the company carries out these responsibilities not only through the overarching Laureus Global Foundation, but also through a direct commitment with the national Laureus Sport for Good Foundations. This may take the form of additional financial subsidies, support from IWC's local employees and local infrastructure, or from the IWC network in the country in question. In Switzerland, for example, IWC Schaffhausen is playing a particularly important role in the setting up the Swiss branch of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. 
IWC obtained its first experience of social sponsorship through its support of the Cousteau Society, which was founded by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the legendary diver and underwater filmmaker, in 1974, and whose central objective is to preserve the foundations for life in the world's oceans. Another important partnership is the one with the descendants of the famous French pilot and great writer Antoine de Saint Exupery. To support the humanitarian project Vol de Nuit/Vuelo Nocturno of Saint Exupery's greatnephew in Buenos Aires, a unique watch of IWC came up for auction with Christie's New York. IWC donated the proceeds from the sale to that association that looks after the interests of disadvantaged children in Argentina.
Time for social responsibility Laureus and IWC
The top man at IWC explains this engagement as follows: "Today, people expect companies to give them authenticity and to represent genuine values." Solidarity with underprivileged individuals is one of those values. It is the sustainability principle that is becoming increasingly important for society and, ultimately, for potential customers. In the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which helps underprivileged children and adolescents to help themselves, IWC has found the ideal partner for an active form of social commitment. Social sponsorship has been almost de rigueur for successful corporations in the USA for some time now, and the significance of this mix between charity and marketing is becoming increasingly important in Europe. "Do good things and talk about them: that is the motto."
Combining top-level sport with charity
In the case of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, in over 60 projects worldwide almost 150,000 children and adolescents have been helped since its inception and have benefited from the commitment of the two corporations. "The major strength of this Foundation is the combination of charity and sport at the very highest level", says Georges Kern. Ultimately, one of the main supports of the organization is the Laureus World Sports Academy. "This consists of the most important sports personalities in the world", Kern points out - not without pride - adding the rhetorical question, "Where else - apart from Laureus - will you find names like Mark Spitz, Edwin Moses and Boris Becker working together to the same end?" Between them, the Academy members account for over 100 Olympic medals, 100 world championship titles and 200 world records.
If only for this reason, IWC's commitment to Laureus represents a unique chance for the company, explains the CEO. As a manufacturer of top-quality sports watches, IWC Schaffhausen already has a close affinity to sports stars of the past and present. It is undoubtedly a huge honour for the watch manufacturer to work so closely with such successful and irreproachable sports and stars. It is also significant that the Academy is made up of more than 20 different nationalities, as well as a wide range of races, cultures and religious beliefs. Georges Kern sees this as yet another symbol that sport is able to surmount the boundaries between nations, races, cultures and religions. Or, as Nelson Mandela once so succinctly expressed it: "Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers."
Underprivileged children rub shoulders with sport's big stars
Academy members were already close to their public while still active. Today, they maintain this closeness by regularly visiting projects organised by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. By doing so, they give the projects public significance and at the same time indicate to the children and adolescents involved - who are usually disadvantaged - that they are being taken seriously by society. At the same time, these encounters with the stars leave a lasting, positive impression on the young people. Any youngster who has had a chance to run against Edwin Moses, play tennis with Boris Becker or kick a football with Bobby Charlton is not going to forget it in a hurry.
In the short time that IWC Schaffhausen has been involved with Laureus, Georges Kern has spoken to many of the Academy members. And he hears the same sentiment repeated time and time again - "I'd like to give back something for everything that sport has given me." This explains why the Laureus sporting legends are prepared to donate their time to travel around the world each year doing what they can to support the various projects.
The book "Let the Children Play"
IWC Schaffhausen has conceived and produced a unique book called "Let the Children Play" in collaboration with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which outlines the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The high quality coffee table book with powerful iconic photographic images and on-the-ground reports will generate greater awareness of the mission of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which uses sport as a vehicle for social change in deprived communities.
Facts on the book
"Let the Children Play", is a hard cover coffee table book, published by IWC in English and contains 276 pages. The book can be ordered over the internet at www.iwc.com or www.laureus.com It is non-profit making and part of the proceeds will go towards the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.