A photography competition may not be the natural preserve of a watch company, but recently Raymond Weil Watches has run an online competition that has attracted significant international interest.

Photographers worldwide submitted photographs with prizes issued for both an overall prize of $10,000 that was decided by a jury and a number of regional runners up voted for by the public using the company’s Facebook page.

The winners of the three Raymond Weil Watches Public's Choice Awards as voted for by Facebook fans, were Silvia Pogoda in the Europe & Africa region for his artistic photo of a man in a hotel room and Omar Gámez from the Americas region for a photo of a man hanging in mid air and hugging a tree trunk.

In the Asia region Yuan Weifa was the people’s choice with his contribution of a picture of a traditional hump-backed bridge photographed in the rain.