In the last week, Yusuf Dikeç’s name was searched over 200,000 times on Google in the United States alone, yielding a 400 percent increase since, well, zero. On July 31, nobody knew who he was. That is until Dikeç blew up all over the internet when photographs and memes of the pro pistol shooter were later released, depicting him in a remarkably relaxed demeanor while competing at the 2024 Olympics.

Dikeç, along with Sevval Ilayda Tarhan, won the silver medal in the mixed team 10-meter air pistol shooting event, marking Turkey’s first-ever Olympic medal in shooting. Although Dikeç placed 13th in his individual event and concluded his competitions at the Paris Olympics, he remains optimistic about the future. “I hope next in Los Angeles [for] a gold medal,” he said in a statement. 

Despite the viral memes, Dikeç, 51, is no newcomer to the sport. He has competed in every Summer Olympics since 2008 where he competed in the 10m Air Pistol and 50m Pistol events. Beyond the Olympics, Dikeç has accumulated a string of impressive achievements in other prestigious competitions. He achieved double world champion titles in 2014, securing victories in both the 25m standard pistol and 25m center-fire pistol events, along with a silver medal in the 10m air pistol. In 2023, he added another silver to his collection in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. Additionally, Dikeç is a seven-time European champion, most recently winning the air pistol trio event in 2024 in Gyor.

No gear except for a Nacar watch

Dikeç’s uniform was simple. He sported a team-officiated T-shirt with one hand in his pocket, wearing standard glasses, his impassive expression, and … a Nacar watch. We know this thanks to the watch-spotting eye of Horoguides who documented this on Threads — a Nacar diving watch in military green. We’ve matched this to the Nacar 07-290699-BNS6 on this e-commerce website that’s revealed to be a 46mm quartz-powered diving watch with a 200-meter water resistance. The last known price was listed for (Turkish Lira) ₺1,386, which equates to approximately US$41.25. As I scoured further through his social media, I realized it may be the only watch he dutifully owns since 2021. At this point, I was intrigued. But I know I’m not alone in this. So fear not, I got more Nacar news for you.

Et voilà, I found a Tumblr post documenting the backstory we needed. The Nacar brand was created specifically for the Turkish market where it was introduced in 1942. According to the author, a Nacar watch is a common heirloom in Turkish families.

Nacar was founded by Turkish-Armenian brothers Ohannes and Kevork Nacaroglu. In 1921, they established the Zila Watch Company and created Nacar, producing their first watch that same year. Ohannes, residing in Bienne, Switzerland, and Kevork in Istanbul, targeted their market to Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria. The author then quotes an interview (date unknown) with Istanbul master watchmaker, Recep Gurgen, who noted how customer behavior changed with the advent of quartz and cheap watches, which diminished the market for mid-budget, reliable mechanical watches. Before this shift, customers sought the best products they could afford from brands like Movado, Buren, and Delma. Nacar then emerged as one of the most beloved brands of that era. A popular saying was, “Saat alacaksan Nacar’dan, hatun alacaksan Macardan,” meaning, “If you’re buying a watch, it should be a Nacar; if you’re getting married, it should be to a Magyar.”

Nacar partnered with Konyali Saatcilik, a Turkish watch retailer, for local distribution and production of wall and table clocks. A year before Kevork Nacaroglu’s passing, the brand was sold to Konyali, which continues to produce and maintain the Nacar name. Their production is split between the Far East for quartz watches and Switzerland for mechanical ones.

A quick Google search on Nacar watches reveals a number of nostalgic time-only watches. The author also shared this: a Nacar watch featuring a triple calendar and moon phase display with day and month windows in Turkish. How’s that for a find?