Priyanka Chopra Jonas is only the third actor to join Rolex’s roster of ambassadors. The agreement was signed earlier this year at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles with Rolex’s global director of communication and image, Arnaud Boetsch. Although the deal was finalized months ago with Anjula Acharia, Chopra Jonas’s manager, her appointment to the Rolex family was disclosed only this week.
Rolex's reasons for waiting nearly 100 years to add actors to its roster are not publicly known, even if the strategy seems obvious today. In 2025, 98 years after Rolex’s first ambassador appeared in a Daily Mail advertisement, the brand signed Leonardo DiCaprio as its first actor Testimonee. Zendaya became its first actress.
Now the appointment of Chopra Jonas, India’s highest-paid actress, comes as Rolex’s strategy toward the world’s most populous country and fastest-growing major economy remains unclear. India, which has added a dollar millionaire household every 30 minutes since 2021, has fewer than 30 Rolex boutiques. To compare, the U.K. has more than 90 Rolex retailers despite having less than 5% of India’s population and less than one-tenth of its land area. When asked for comment, a press relations specialist at Rolex in Geneva said the brand continues to monitor the situation in India.
When the agreement was signed at the Los Angeles hotel, Rolex envisioned Chopra Jonas in an India-only campaign. It was her manager who pushed for a global partnership, according to people familiar with the deal. For the past six years, Chopra Jonas had been an ambassador for Bulgari, a relationship that would usually rule out a deal with Rolex. The two sides ultimately reached an arrangement allowing Chopra Jonas to represent Rolex for watches and Bulgari for jewelry.