THINK watch brands, and a flurry of names are likely to jostle for space in your mind. These days, watches are not just instruments to mark time - they are often coveted and worn like fine jewellery.

Watch brands want you to want their wares, but in a sea of luxury watch brands, how do the various watch houses set themselves apart from the others?

The solution: there is nothing like a famous face to create a little extra buzz for the brand. For years, watch brands have been using sports and movie stars to keep time with their target audience.

However, it is not simply a case of choosing to align with the most popular, most beautiful or most of-the-moment personality. After all, the image of the brand is at stake, and every brand ambassador must be chosen with care.

International brands like TAG Heuer take brand ambassadors very seriously. Said Ms Fiona Ho, sales and marketing executive at TAG Heuer Singapore: "Brand ambassadors are an important part of marketing and brand positioning. We try to identify ambassadors who share the same values as our brand."

The companies look for successful, high-achieving individuals who personify the brand's DNA - that of sport and glamour.

The result of their search? Their 2005 advertising campaigns feature superstars in their respective fields, including tennis ace Maria Sharapova, golfer Tiger Woods, and actor Brad Pitt.

Not surprisingly, other brands have similar criteria.

The Ambassadors

Longines looks for faces able to increase brand awareness through his or her own status. Additionally, the brand, part of the Swatch Group, is drawn to ambassadors who can personify the values of the brand: in this case, elegance.

Accordingly, they have assembled a stylish stable of ambassadors, among whom are singer/actor Harry Connick Jr. and Indian actress Aishwarya Rai.

Often, the brand's relationship with its spokesperson goes beyond a simple endorsement contract. The celebrities become part of the brand's extended family.

For example, Omega and TAG Heuer work hard to cultivate long-term relationships with their ambassadors, communicating regularly and even letting them stamp a little of their personality on the products by involving them in the creation and design of the watches.

It is a tie-up that works both ways: the ambassadors get to work with brands they truly love and believe in, and the brands establish themselves in a crowded environment.

Celebrities offer enormous potential for influencing consumer watch-purchasing decisions and ensuring a brand's success. So effective are these alliances that Omega reports customers walking into boutiques and asking for the "Cindy Crawford watch" or the "Bond watch".

Brands are reluctant to discuss numbers, but Longines discloses that each contract usually lasts 12 months, often with an option to extend for another year. In TAG Heuer's case, Tiger Woods and Formula One race driver Kimi Ra�kk�nen have signed on to be its long-term ambassadors.

So choosing a watch face - literally - is not just about having something beautiful to look at in advertisements. The chosen ones must be unique and exceptional in their own ways, embodying the same values as the brand. Their alluring beauty is, perhaps, just a happy coincidental plus.