It was 6:02 when we arrived for a 6:00 p.m. cocktail reception with Nicole Kidman, and it was already chaos.

   Nicole Kidman and Omega president Stephen Urquhart

An NYPD squad car was parked outside the Omega flagship store on Fifth Avenue, its flashing lights competing with bombastic cheeriness from the Disney store next door. An NYPD officer snarled at camera-phone toting tourists: "I told you to move on! There's nothing to see!"

But it wasn't their fault, entirely. Lookie Loos were drawn like moths to the giant white lights set up outside a mini-red carpet where a scrum of paparazzi lay in wait. A burly security guy even blocked the publicists with the clipboards. He gave us the fish-eye when we asked to check in. (What! No one told us we were going to party with Nicole Kidman when we got up at 6 a.m.! Doc Martens make sense at dawn, ok?)

Inside, the space was elegant, softly lit and quiet in the way only churches and extremely moneyed havens are. Champagne was served. Little clock-themed hors' d'oeuvres were passed. People wore black with shiny shoes and expertly parted hair. For all the commotion outside, there were perhaps 30 people (a mix of retailers and media) present to watch Nicole Kidman sign boxes for Omega.

Kidman has been an Omega spokesmodel for six years, Omega president Stephen Urquhart says, because she's "a perfect match" for the brand. "She's an incredibly positive person," he says. "You won't see extremes with her. Elegant, refined, good taste -- that's what Nicole is."

At just past 6:30, the actress arrived, setting off such a set of flashes that we worried for any nearby epileptics. In a slim black dress and a high, Bardot-ish ponytail, Kidman entered the Omega store, and even the VIPs who were allowed inside raised their iPhones in salute.

Kidman signed her name (with a heart) on thirty boxes from the Omega Constellation series, which retail between $5,000 - $25,000. Kidman lent her name to the project in part as her work as goodwill ambassador for Unicef; proceeds from sales go to the charity Unifem.

She charmed the retailers, stood for photos, autographed her Omega ad. Minutes past 7 p.m., she was taken upstairs and left the store via a secret entrance. She missed out on the cheesecake lollipops.