Tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf successfully leveraged their decade-long partnership with Swiss watchmaker Longines to raise $300,000 for charitable causes. The fundraiser, which took place in 2018, centered on the auction of 20 limited-edition watches, marking ten years of collaboration between the sports icons and the brand. The proceeds were dedicated to the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education and Graf’s organization, Children for Tomorrow.
The project was formally unveiled during a gala at the Musée Rodin in Paris on June 2, 2018. Longines released a special Conquest V.H.P. collection consisting of 10 men’s and 10 women’s watches. While the company retained one numbered set for its museum archives in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, the remaining 19 sets were sold through an online auction held throughout the month. This initiative successfully bridged the couple's professional sports legacy with their ongoing philanthropic commitments.
Agassi’s charitable focus has long been directed toward improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged young people, notably through a college preparatory campus in Las Vegas established in 2001. Conversely, Graf’s foundation, Children for Tomorrow, was founded in 1998 with the specific aim of assisting children and families enduring the trauma associated with war, exile, and violence. The couple noted that their long-standing relationship with Longines was built upon an overlap of shared values, which had evolved from the brand’s early sponsorship of Agassi’s Grand Slam for Children events.
The impact of the auction was significant for Children for Tomorrow. At the time of the fundraiser, Graf highlighted that the organization was previously limited to helping about 1,000 children annually, primarily through direct therapy. With the funding provided by the watch sale, the charity was able to expand its scope significantly. Graf noted that the foundation began working directly within schools, providing training for teachers to help them identify and address trauma in a classroom setting.
Graf, who regularly traveled to Germany to support the foundation’s operations, emphasized the increasing importance of this outreach. She pointed to the influx of refugees in Germany over the years leading up to 2018 as a factor that introduced complex cultural and linguistic challenges for children. The additional financial support allowed the organization to adapt its methods and reach a broader population of children in need.
The culmination of the fundraising effort occurred in November 2018, when Agassi hosted the winning bidders at the Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus in Las Vegas. During this event, the donors met with students benefiting from the foundation’s programs before Agassi personally presented them with their watch sets. This gesture served to physically connect the luxury items with the tangible educational outcomes that the auction had helped finance.
Ultimately, the $300,000 raised through the sale provided both foundations with the necessary resources to continue their work. By merging their individual missions into a single collaborative event, Agassi and Graf ensured that their anniversary with Longines served a purpose far beyond the commercial sphere, directly impacting the lives of students and children recovering from trauma.
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