Timeless attractions

This is because the watchmaker with a history of 185 years believes "it is important to conserve the cultural heritage for the future generations," she says.

According to Fu Wenxia, the managing director of SIFF, Jaeger-LeCoultre has helped restore more than 10 Chinese films, which have been projected as a regular part of the festival in the past eight years. "And we hope to keep working with Jaeger-LeCoultre to protect the heritage of Chinese filmmaking, and provide an optimized viewing experience of these immortal films."

As for Pierre Millereau, the managing director of Jaeger-LeCoultre China, "to restore a movie, you need to be very precise, and work with lots of hand manipulation, just like the way we make our watches".

"Also, the very basis of our business is how a watchmaker transmits knowledge from one to another, generation after generation," says Millereau.

The Swiss brand first got involved with cinema in 2004 when it started a partnership with the Venice Film Festival.