The iconic Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race will be renamed to the “Chanel J12 Boat Race” next year due to a long-term partnership with luxury brand Chanel.

The race has been named after Chanel’s J12 line of high-end watches, with prices ranging from £5,000 to £122,000. Funding from the Chanel partnership will go towards training, equipment, and construction.

The sponsorship is set to last until 2029, with Frederic Grangie, president of Chanel watches and fine jewellery, saying: “We are delighted to sign a strategic partnership with The Boat Race who share the same values of collective endeavour and the pursuit of excellence.”

“Synchronicity in rowing is as crucial to the race as watchmaking craftsmanship to ensure accurate timing. Every rower, like every mechanism in a watch, must work together as one; the balance, the weight and the oar movements must all be impeccably timed,” Grangie also added.

The men’s Boat Race will have its 200th anniversary in 2029, and the women’s race will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The brand will be the official timekeepers of the race in a nod to the J12 watches which have become the namesake of the iconic event. Chanel are the first timekeepers in the race’s history.

The sponsorship comes after the previous sponsor, a crypto marketplace called Gemini, filed for bankruptcy in January 2023.

The competition will be Chanel’s first foray into sports partnerships. Previous sponsors of the race include Ladbrokes, Aberdeen Asset Management, and Beefeater Gin.

The race has been sponsored since 1976. Before 2011 the women’s crews were self-funded, but have since come under the same sponsor as the men’s side.

In 2010 rules changed to allow logos of sponsors on the crew’s kit, meaning Chanel branding is likely to appear on the sports kits of both Oxford and Cambridge rowers.

No details on the sponsorship’s value have currently been revealed.