Revolution’s Sophie Furley and Adi Soon leave the SIHH and all its top models to meet a real life top model, Adriana Lima, who was in Geneva to celebrate the launch of IWC’s new Aquatimer collection…and yes, she is as gorgeous in real life! 

Revolution: IWC’s slogan “Engineered for Men” rather excludes women from wearing the brand’s watches, or maybe dares them to wear them! What appeals to you personally about IWC’s timepieces?

Adriana Lima: I think that watches show a lot about your personality. For me I am a very strong woman, I do strong activities like boxing, so in terms of watches, I think bigger is better. Unfortunately there are not that many watches that are created for women that are bigger, and I think that men’s watches are cooler, the design for me is cooler. I really like them; in fact I have always liked them.

Revolution: Are you excited about visiting the SIHH?

Adriana Lima: I am excited to be here for the new Aquatimer collection. IWC is exciting because they create a different theme each year. So we wonder what the next one will be. It is incredible how they come up with different ideas and inspirations every year. Many of the new Aquatimer timepieces pay tribute to Charles Darwin and one of the great things is that 10 percent of the sales of these special watches goes towards preserving the Galapagos Islands. It is really a wonderful thing.

Revolution: Do you wear a watch when you aren’t working?

Adriana Lima: Watches are very important in everybody’s life. Without time, how can you function? Imagine if there was no time or watches.  How do you know what time to go to work? Imagine the mess! People would just show up whenever they wanted. It is an important part of life to have a watch.

Revolution: How controlled is your life by time?

Adriana Lima: I think everybody’s life functions with time. They wake up in the morning, and once you get older and have a family, it becomes more important—time to wake up, time for breakfast, time for work, time for sleep—it is important.

Revolution: What memories do you have of your first watch?

Adriana Lima: I am going to be honest with you, as a child I did not have a watch, but my first watch ever was from IWC. It was one of the Pilot models. It was the one from the father and son collection and I had the son one.

Revolution: You have had one of the most successful modelling careers of all time. Do you set yourself professional challenges or do you let life carry you along?

Adriana Lima: I have a challenge. I plan to be working for a long time, because modelling careers are often only for a short period of time, and I am lucky to be here after so many years. I am setting a challenge with time. I want to challenge age. There are a lot of new girls arriving with new faces, so I am always trying to create new attitudes and recreate myself in different ways. I think that is the key. I also want to challenge women that no matter how old you are, there are different stages in life and you can still be strong and beautiful.

Revolution: What watch are you wearing today?

Adriana Lima: I am wearing the Aquatimer automatic with a silver-plated dial.

Revolution: If you had more time, how would you spend it?

Adriana Lima: It is funny, because I was reading quotes about time yesterday and one of the quotes that I really loved was, Time is the most important thing in life, you can have more money if you work very hard, but you cannot have more time. I enjoy every second because you will never get it back again so I have stopped looking towards the future because a lot of things can change. It is more about the present.

Revolution: You did the most beautiful short film The Follow with Wong Kar-Wai, can you tell me what this experience was like?

Adriana Lima: I was so young when I did that movie and when I received the call I was thrilled because, as you know, I am not an actress so I felt really honored to work with someone like Wong Kar-wai. I am a big fan of his work. I think he is the most talented directors in all aspects, with setting the scenes, the lighting, he is really an artist and it was really a wonderful experience to be working with him. I was really nervous because there were so many big actors in that short film. I really hope that I get another chance to work with him again. It was definitely a great experience. I remember I saw Fallen Angels, Happy Together, and he made it In the Mood for Love as well. He is a genius.

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