The battered face of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone features in a new advert for a Swiss company, whose watch was stolen from him in a mugging last month.

The 80-year-old was mugged by four people and also robbed of jewellery worth £200,000 ($315,000) in London.

The advert was an idea from Ecclestone himself who sent it to the firm.

The tag line quotes Ecclestone as saying: "See what people will do for a Hublot."

The watchmaker's chief executive Jean-Claude Biver said: "He told us, 'Please use it to make an advertising campaign because I want to show that I'm courageous.'

"I thought, 'Wow, this guy has some guts.'

"It is also a protestation against violence that we are all afraid of today."

The adverts will run for three days this week in British newspapers.

Bernie Ecclestone was taken to hospital after the mugging last month where he was treated for a minor head injury.

He was robbed at the Formula One Holdings building in Knightsbridge while with his Brazilian girlfriend Fabiana Flosi.