Watches come in all manner of looks, so it is only fitting that the people who represent them are similarly diverse.
Watchmakers have regularly switched up their ambassadors to better represent their brands. The latest appointments range from notable names in sports to those who rule the entertainment scene.
Read more: Xiao Zhan and the rising fashion influence of Chinese stars
IWC Schaffhausen chose Eileen Gu, who is known as a prodigy in freestyle skiing. Just 17 years old, the Chinese-American athlete is said to be the perfect embodiment of a multifaceted modern woman.
She started recreational skiing aged three, before delving into the world of freestyle skiing when she was eight. Freeski is an action-packed extreme sport that involves spectacular acrobatic skills like flips, spins and slides.
Gu’s most significant achievement to date came at the X Games 2021 in Aspen, Colorado, where she made history as the first rookie woman ever to win three medals. Just two months later, she claimed three more medals at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.
Another athlete joining the watchmaking world as ambassador is Sydney McLaughlin. She was appointed by Tag Heuer in June, dubbed as “one of the fastest women of all time”.
Since then, the 22-year-old has gone on to smash the world record to win a gold medal for women’s 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics.
Panerai has trained its sights on Dilraba Dilmurat, a Chinese actress of Uyghur ethnicity. She is the brand’s first female ambassador.
As a prominent Chinese film star who portrayed many iconic characters over the years, Dilmurat is seen as a passionate and inspiring role model to millions of viewers worldwide.
For Montblanc, it is Cillian Murphy who has caught attention.
The Irish actor is a latest addition to the “What Moves You, Makes You” campaign, which aims to inspire people to express their full potential by doing what truly moves them, rather than following a more conventional path to success.
Murphy has starred in films The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception and Dunkirk and currently stars in critically acclaimed television series Peaky Blinders,
“Emotion of the story is the thing that is key for me. If I don’t feel altered by the story and the truth of the performance, then it hasn’t worked for me as a performer and a viewer,” he says, about inspiring others.
Jaeger-LeCoultre, on the other hand, is banking on the K-wave to cause a splash. With his new appointment as ambassador, Kim Woo-bin partnered with the watchmaker for a Seoul exhibition in June.
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The South Korean actor is popular throughout Asia, having established a captivating presence in acclaimed television series and box office hit movies of various genres, from romantic comedy to drama to action films.
His next big appearance is in the sci-fi film Alien + People, which tells the extraordinary story of time connected between the old Korean Goryeo Dynasty and the present, 2021, with aliens.
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