Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
The number of schools needing financial crisis help has increased by 540% in two years
Russian security service carry out 'revenge' raid on house of Alexei Navalny ally's father
US stocks drop sharply as EU considers response to Trump tariffs
Pride Watches are producing watches for Manchester Utd (pictured) and Liverpool, going on sale from mid-November.
Pride Watches
Nine months after tearful Dragons Den pitch, watchmaker seals deal with Man Utd and Liverpool
Jason O’Reilly brought Dragons to tears in January – and next month will start selling official merchandise for two of the world’s biggest soccer clubs.
BARELY NINE MONTHS ago he broke into tears before the panellists on Dragon’s Den – revealing how he had been left high and dry after a previous investor pulled out of his company, leaving him broke and with stock he couldn’t sell.
Now, Jason O’Reilly’s customised sports watches are available all over Ireland – and soon, all over the world.
The Dubliner’s company, Pride Watches, has finalised deals which will see it provide branded watches carrying the colours and crests of Manchester United and Liverpool – with both going on sale in two weeks’ time.
It’s been a remarkable turn of fortune for Jason, who could not even afford the petrol to travel to the Dragon’s Den pitch from his home in Cavan – but who left with a €45,000 investment from Blacktie owner Niall O’Farrell and technology investor Seán O’Sullivan.
O’Reilly had previously been employed as a bricklayer and moved into window washing when the trade dried up, and says the idea for the silicone-strapped watches came to him when his sister complemented him on a watch he had bought on a plane.
“Would you believe, it was Friday the 13th when I went on to do the pitch,” Jason told TheJournal.ie, chuckling at the unlucky connotations of the date.
The two pitches that had been presented before Jason’s had both won investment from the Dragons – leaving Jason to fear that he wouldn’t be able to secure a third consecutive investment.
Shinawil [the show's producers] said to me, ‘It’s Friday the 13th – would you like to change your dates?’
I said there was no need – ‘Believe you me, I’ve had enough bad luck!’
Now the company has sold 70,000 watches in seven months – with another 120,000 in circulation – and its products have been officially licensed by the GAA, which offers the watches in the colours of all 32 counties.
Now the major deal with Manchester United and Liverpool will see the company go global – with the watches sold in the club stores at Old Trafford and Anfield, and on each club’s online stores, visited by millions each month.
Jason told TheJournal.ie that the deals involved significant scrutiny from the clubs – including audits of his Chinese supplier’s plant to ensure ethical working conditions there.
He added that he hoped to continue expanding into the British market next year, declaring: “England is where it’s at,” revealing his ambitions to provide branded watches to every single Premiership club by the end of the year.
Not fit to rest with that, he’s also hoping to secure a merchandising deal with a major airline, and is submitting a proposal to that airline in the coming days.
None of the success would be possible without the support of the Dragons who had invested €22,500 each in his company in exchange for stakes of just over 15 per cent.
“Niall O’Farrell is the main man, he’s absolutely fantastic,” Jason says. “He’s constantly with me, bringing me to gigs and showing my face around.”
He says Seán O’Sullivan, too, is equally supportive – and has encouraged his business partner Bill Liao to offer whatever help and guidance he can while O’Sullivan is away travelling. Liao is now a director of the company, alongside Jason and his wife Anjanette.
The launch of the United and Liverpool watches will come barely over a year after Anjanette saw the first TV ad for the last season of the show, and suggested that Jason submit a pitch.
With the watches costing about €1.60 to produce and import (rising to about €3 once brand licensing is taken into account) and set to retail for €10 each, the brief TV appearance is set to prove a worthwhile investment.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
I see the media narrative has taken hold and imbedded itself nicely into the social discourse. Anyone with a personal injury claim is now a ‘claim merchant’ etc. Sher of course no one could be going to court with a genuine claim or with a genuine life long injury. Well done for getting hoodwinked by insurance corporations and the likes of Charlie Weston lads.
The number of schools needing financial crisis help has increased by 540% in two years
Muiris O'Cearbhaill
21 mins ago
107
1
Alexei Navalny
Russian security service carry out 'revenge' raid on house of Alexei Navalny ally's father
1 hr ago
3.3k
Live Blog
US stocks drop sharply as EU considers response to Trump tariffs
6 hrs ago
47.0k
68
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 161 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 143 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 113 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 134 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say