BEREA, Ohio — For those who have been paying attention to Odell Beckham Jr.'s wrist-wear this season -- and there's been many who have been -- the star wide receiver's latest endorsement deal may have come as a surprise.
On Wednesday, Swedish watchmaker Daniel Ellington announced that it has signed Beckham as its newest "icon" -- just days after the Cleveland Browns star wide receiver was spotted wearing Richard Mille watch during pregame warmups on Monday Night Football.
While some have disputed the authenticity of the watch Beckham was wearing -- only 10 pieces of the $2 million RM 56-02 Tourbillon Sapphire are believed to exist -- it marked the second straight week he wore a Richard Mille model. The 3-time Pro Bowl receiver had previously worn a $190,000 Richard Mille RM 11-03 during the Browns' season-opening loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Between Beckham's superstar status, the expensive nature of the watches he was wearing and the belief that doing so was against NFL rules, there have been no shortage of stories written about the 2014 NFL Rookie of the Year's wrist-wear in the last two weeks. So when it was revealed that he had signed with a company other than Richard Mille, what would have otherwise been an ordinary endorsement deal came with some extra buzz -- which appears to have been Beckham's plan all along.
"There's always a method to the madness," Beckham said with a smile. "This partnership with Daniel Wellington, I'm really happy to do that. Again, I'm off of the -- the watch topic, I'm going to leave it alone. I'm just strictly on football. Now you know Daniel Wellington, so that's the bottom line. I'm not talking about watches anymore."
The reality is that thanks to his viral marketing approach -- whether it was intentional or not -- he doesn't have to. Thanks to merely two days in which he wore lavish models and insisted he would continue to do so despite the NFL's objections, Beckham established himself as arguably the athlete who is now most synonymous with wrist-wear.
And while Wednesday's announcement may have come as a shock to some, it's worth noting that he first hinted at the partnership with Daniel Wellington -- whose watches cost less than $200 -- during his postgame press conference on Monday.
“I think Daniel Wellington might be a better watch than these, a little classier, not as flashy as this one," Beckham said while wearing his pregame Richard Mille model. "I’m just blessed.”
A method to his madness, indeed.
