The Nobel Watch company—which built its 15-year business and reputation on the slogan, “I didn’t get the Nobel Prize … But I got the NOBEL watch”—has been warned by the Nobel Prize givers to stop using it.

The New York City-based watch company says it has received a letter of warning from the Nobel Foundation, based in Stockholm, Sweden. The private foundation manages the assets provided in the will of Alfred Nobel for annual prestigious Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace, which it also awards.

The Nobel Foundation’s letter warned Nobel Watch to “cease and desist” using the words “Nobel Prize” in its slogan now and in the future.

The watch company has used the slogan since its inception; this is the first time it has been challenged, it says.

Iszy Genuth, Nobel Watch’s chief executive officer, said in a statement, that on advice of its legal counsel, the company will continue to use the slogan as it has in the past. It has retained the New York law firm of Schweitzer Cornman Gross & Bondell LLP, which deals in intellectual property law, to represent it.

Nobel Watch specializes in the manufacture and distribution of Swiss-made steel and gold timepieces retailing from $295 to $15,000, all with a two-year buckle-to-buckle service warranty. It has also created watches for the cast of the TV show “Law & Order” and presented timepieces to a number of well-known figures, among them U.S. president Bill Clinton; N.Y. Gov. Mario Cuomo, and New York Yankees’ coaches.

JCK