In the winter of 2010, 80-year-old F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone returned to his headquarters near London’s Hyde Park with his Brazilian girlfriend. As soon as he stepped out of the car, four robbers lying in wait rushed him and kicked him to the ground.
The robbers punched and kicked the old man in the head, stealing a limited-edition Hublot watch worth £200,000 from his wrist. They left the billionaire’s right eye black and swollen, and he needed several stitches at the corner of his mouth.
Any other wealthy person would have called in bodyguards and kept the attack under wraps. But after being discharged from hospital, Bernie not only made no attempt to hide it—he had a photographer take a high-resolution close-up of his eyes, swollen purple like aubergines, and sent it straight to Hublot’s CEO, suggesting he use it as a promotional poster.
Two days later, the photo of his battered, bruised face appeared in full-page ads in the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune. Beneath it was a line Bernie had written himself: “Look at what people will do to steal a Hublot watch.”
