It seemed a union made in marketing heaven. Oscar winner Charlize Theron would be the face of luxury Swiss watchmaker Raymond Weil in a lucrative deal.
The model-turned-actor, gushed the company, was ”a stunning and radiant woman who transcends any standard definition, and has evolved into a feminine myth, an icon”.
Like a decent watch, said the firm’s chief executive Olivier Bernheim, she represented ”beauty, style and perfection of function”, offering ”an unforgettable encounter, a moment of pure magic where time seems to vanish in the air”.
But 18 months later the two have fallen out after Theron was spotted on the internet wearing somebody else’s watch.
The watchmaker sued her in a Manhattan court on Monday, accusing her of signing an exclusive deal to wear Weil’s watches but then modelling Christian Dior jewellery on the Dior website.
”She signed an exclusive,” Raymond Weil’s lawyer, David Jaroslawicz, said. ”She got very well paid for it … she went ahead and blatantly violated [it].”
The suit filed in Manhattan’s supreme court does not specify damages but a lawyer for the company told the New York Sun that Weil hoped to recoup the $20-million it had spent on the campaign featuring Theron.
Theron (31) has a long-standing connection with Dior, having signed a $3-million deal with the company in 2005 to be the face of its J’adore perfume. In one ad for Dior perfume, Theron removes her clothes and her jewellery, tossing her watch to the ground with the words: ”Gold is cold”. – Guardian Unlimited Â