Gong Li and Kelly Chen rep Swiss watches

Gong Li is the brand ambassador for the new Piaget Limelight Gala collection of expensive watches that, according to a breathless company announcement, represents the 1960s "which were known as a golden age pervaded by a resolutely fanciful spirit." Som of us remember the 1960s as a time of civil rights demonstrations, radical political campaigns and the war in Vietnam but that probably won't sell many diamond encrusted watches.

Over the past five years China has rewarded luxury goods manufacturers with a presence there with double digit annual growth. Philippe Leopold Metzger, CEO of Piaget, is not one to miss a sure thing. Here he slips a few hundred thousand dollars worth on diamonds onto Gong Li's wrist.

The creative director for the campaign decided that the best way to present Gong Li was as a photoshopped image that was barely recognizable:

Meanwhile Kelly Chen put on a pink dress and slapped a decal on her arm from Ernest Borel, a Swiss watchmaker that targets a larger and less wealthy slice of the market:

She joined a few hundred guests of the sponsor and a photo crew for a quick shipboard photo opportunity. Leaning against a rail she was her usual serene self, looking as placid as the sea.

Piaget; Xinhua; Ernest Borel; Sina