Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo left a void in our hearts when his Armani underwear contract ended, and we’ve suffered several years now without his olive-skinned abs and immaculately groomed eyebrows gracing billboards everywhere. But now he’s back! Blingy watchmaker Jacob & Co. announced they’ve signed a multi-year deal for him to be their new face, starting with a series of ads out in May, WWD reports. For some curious and, frankly, wasteful reason, the campaign shows him fully clothed, perhaps because they want viewers to pay attention to his enormous wristwatch (psh). Here’s a shirtless photo of him for old times’ sake.
In related news, Ronaldo’s campaign signifies what Jacob & Co.’s new CEO Chris Del Gatto calls “a complete relaunch” of the company. Mired in legal troubles and even linked to a scary-sounding Detroit-based narcotics ring called the Black Mafia Family (!), the company’s founder, Jacob Arabo, spent almost two years in jail from 2009 to 2010. Arabo really should write a tell-all book about this, but presumably he’d rather keep all his fingers, so a contract with Ronaldo will have to do instead.
