A brand ambassador is a watch house's full, usually exclusive commitment: campaigns, a collection to front, years of deliverables. A friend of the brand (or 'Friend of the Maison') is a lighter, looser tie built around events and appearances, often regional and often a first step. 2026 brought both to Indian women: Janhvi Kapoor at Baume & Mercier and Ananya Panday at Piaget as Friends of the Maison, Priyanka Chopra Jonas as a Rolex Testimonee. Here is what each title means and how to read the next announcement.
2026 has been the year Swiss watch houses discovered Indian women. In April, at Watches and Wonders in Geneva, Baume & Mercier named Janhvi Kapoor its Friend of the Maison in India, built around the new Joia collection. In June, Piaget welcomed Ananya Panday as a Friend of the Maison at its Colours of Extraleganza presentation on the French Riviera, where she wore a Sixtie cuff watch with an opal dial. And Rolex named Priyanka Chopra Jonas a Rolex Testimonee, placing her alongside James Cameron, Zendaya and Martin Scorsese.
WatchTime India's current print issue calls it a surge in Indian women "brand ambassadors and brand friends". That phrase is accurate, but it treats two quite different jobs as one. The words on the press release are chosen carefully, and they tell you how much the brand is actually committing. Here is the difference.
The short answer
A brand ambassador is a formal, usually exclusive, multi-year partnership: the person fronts advertising campaigns, is tied to a collection, and agrees to a defined list of appearances and posts. A friend of the brand (Piaget and Baume & Mercier say "Friend of the Maison") is a lighter relationship built around events, launches and red carpets, usually without a starring role in the main campaign and often limited to one region. A Testimonee is Rolex's own word for its long-term ambassadors, and Rolex does not use the word "ambassador" at all.
Contracts are private, so no outsider can tell you exact fees or clauses. But the titles are used consistently enough across the industry that the pattern is clear.
| Brand ambassador | Friend of the brand / Maison | Rolex Testimonee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaigns | Stars in advertising, often the face of a collection | Usually not the main campaign; editorials, events, social posts | Brand films and portraits built around the person's work |
| Exclusivity | Typically exclusive in the watch category | Looser; tends to be limited to what she wears at brand moments | Long-term and exclusive in practice |
| Scope | Often global | Often regional ("in India") | Global |
| Commitment | Multi-year, defined deliverables | Shorter and more flexible; can lead to ambassadorship | Measured in decades for many Testimonees |
| Indian example | Katrina Kaif (Rado, global ambassador) | Janhvi Kapoor (Baume & Mercier), Ananya Panday (Piaget) | Priyanka Chopra Jonas |
What a brand ambassador actually signs up for
An ambassadorship is the full commitment. When Rado named Katrina Kaif a global brand ambassador, it came with new Centrix models launched around her. That is the pattern: the ambassador's face goes on the billboards and in the print campaign, she is linked to a specific collection, and she is expected not to be photographed in a competitor's watch. Titan runs the same model at home. Its "Wear Your Story" campaign stars badminton double-Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu alongside actor Vikrant Massey, and fashion-watch brands work the same way, with GUESS Watches signing Tamannaah Bhatia and Daniel Wellington signing Sharvari for India.
For the brand, an ambassador is an expensive, long bet. It only makes sense when the company is sure about the person and the market.
What "friend of the brand" means
A friend of the brand is the lighter version: the brand gets a recognisable face at the moments that matter, and both sides keep their freedom. In practice that means launches, gala dinners, film festivals and award nights where she wears the brand's pieces, plus a few social posts, without a full advertising campaign or a long list of fixed deliverables.
Look at the wording of the two 2026 announcements. Baume & Mercier's announcement was specifically about India, focused on the Joia collection, and its CEO spoke of "many exciting initiatives planned for the country". Piaget introduced Ananya Panday at a high-jewellery event, not a watch campaign. In both cases the house gets an Indian face in the Indian press without redrawing its global campaign. It is a measured way to test a market, and many houses use the friend title as a first step, with the option of moving someone up to ambassador later.
Friend of the brand is not a lesser honour for the person. It is a smaller commitment from the brand, and the difference is useful to know.
What a Rolex Testimonee is
Rolex prefers "Testimonee", from the idea of testimony: the person's own achievements speak for the watch. Rolex's Testimonees tend to stay for decades, and the brand builds long-form films around what they do rather than simply photographing them with a watch. Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins the film-world group that includes James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Zendaya, Martin Scorsese and Jia Zhang-Ke. Of the three 2026 signings, it is the most global and probably the longest-lasting.
Why Indian women, and why now?
Three trends are meeting. India is one of luxury watchmaking's fastest-growing markets; our look at Ethos's numbers shows how quickly the premium end is expanding. Women's watches are the segment Swiss brands most want to grow. And Indian film stars now carry real weight abroad: Ananya Panday was introduced in Menton, not Mumbai.
The friend title fits that moment. It lets a house put an Indian face in front of Indian buyers quickly and cheaply, see how the market responds, and upgrade the relationship if it works.
How to read the next announcement
- Check the exact title. "Global ambassador" is a bigger commitment than "brand ambassador for India", which is bigger than "Friend of the Maison".
- Check the scope. "In India" means a regional relationship with regional ambitions.
- Check the campaign. If she isn't in the main advertising, it is a friendship, whatever the headlines say.
- Check the collection. It tells you which buyer the brand is really trying to reach, as with Joia at Baume & Mercier.
And the Indian brands?
India's independent brands mostly can't afford either title, and the few that pay for famous faces have gone for men: Jaipur Watch Company signed cricketers Dhruv Jurel and Yuzvendra Chahal. The more interesting Indian answer to the women's market has come from founders rather than celebrities. OATH, launched in Jaipur in 2026 by Tarushi and Palak Chhabra (our profile), is built around the gap the Swiss houses are now chasing: women buy, gift and style watches, yet most brands still treat them as an afterthought. Its Reign Silver (31.8mm, sapphire, ₹5,999) is a good example of the price range the Swiss houses don't serve. Avarth went further with the Chandini, a Swiss-movement dress watch with Devanagari numerals that has sold out.
OATH
Reign Silver
₹6.0K
A Swiss house can sign an ambassador to reach Indian women. Indian brands are getting there by designing for them in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a brand ambassador and a friend of the brand? A brand ambassador has a formal, usually exclusive and multi-year contract to front campaigns and a collection. A friend of the brand has a looser, often regional relationship built around events and appearances, usually without a starring campaign role.
What does "Friend of the Maison" mean? It is the same thing as friend of the brand. "Maison" (house) is the word Swiss luxury houses such as Piaget and Baume & Mercier use for themselves.
Is Priyanka Chopra a Rolex ambassador? Rolex calls her a Testimonee, its own term for long-term ambassadors. She was named in 2026.
Which Indian women became watch brand friends or ambassadors in 2026? Janhvi Kapoor (Baume & Mercier, Friend of the Maison in India, April 2026), Ananya Panday (Piaget, Friend of the Maison, June 2026) and Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Rolex Testimonee). Earlier signings include Katrina Kaif as Rado's global ambassador and P. V. Sindhu for Titan.
