If you want a truly unique, one-of-a-kind piece of Uni Watch memorabilia, you can’t beat these two football helmets.
Here’s the backstory: In the spring of 2017, the helmet manufacturer Riddell rolled out a new program called Precision-Fit, the key feature of which involved scanning the player’s head to create a custom fit. I wrote about it for ESPN (ugh, I’ve always hated the headline that my editor gave that article), and the Riddell people offered to scan my head so I could better understand the process.
Here’s a video of Riddell product manager Patrick Friel walking around me with a 3D scanner. I think another Riddell employee shot the video, using my phone (you can see some of the resulting scans here):
Riddell used those scans to create a genuine Uni Watch SpeedFlex helmet custom-designed to fit my head. The winged stirrup hadn’t yet been created, so this helmet had our old magnifying-glass logo and the green/gold/maroon stripe that used to run across the top of the Uni Watch website. It all looked very official (click thumbnails to see larger versions):
In a further attempt to make the Precision-Fit helmets seem more personalized, Riddell put the player’s name and signature in two places: printed on a little plate on the back of the helmet (equipment managers usually removed these) and stitched into a piece of the interior padding. So my helmet also had those features:
In 2019, when Riddell updated the Precision-Fit process by using 3D-printed latticework padding, they used the existing scans of my head to produce a new helmet. This one featured the winged stirrup, a different striping pattern, and a green chinstrap cup (click thumbnails to see larger versions):
This helmet didn’t include the name/signature plate on the back, but it still has my name and sig stitched into the padding, along with the Riddell “Precision Diamond” mark (these pics also give you a sense of the latticework padding format; click to see larger versions):
These helmets are really fun to have, but they don’t really fit with the rest of my home décor and they’re not doing anyone any good if they’re stowed away in a box, so I’ve decided to sell them.
The price: $750 apiece or $1,200 for the pair, plus shipping. If you’re interested (or if you want more info, more pics, etc.), drop me a line. Thanks!