For Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, the world was like a ‘living laboratory.’ This perspective enabled him to use it as a testing ground for his watches back in the 1930s. However, at the turn of the 21st century, exploration for pure discover has given way to exploration as a means to preserve the natural. Keeping this mind, Rolex launched the Perpetual Planet initiative in 2019 with a mission to “make the planet perpetual.”
Within a short period of time, Rolex has set up mportant partnerships with the National Geographic Society to collect climate data and Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue initiative to protect the oceans through a network of marine protected ‘Hope Spots.‘
Today on the occasion of World Environment Day, we celebrate and explore the recently released special documentary by Rolex called Perpetual Planet: Heroes of the Ocean.
You can also watch the video here.
What Is It About?
The documentary brings together legendary oceanographer and Rolex Testimonee, Sylvia Earle, and a team of pioneering marine scientists. They tell the story of the work that is being undertaken across the planet to protect the ocean’s fragile and deteriorating ecosystems. Rolex has taken on this project under their Planet Perpetual initiative, signifying the brand’s commitment to foster exploration for the conservation of the environment. The hour-long documentary invites viewers to immerse themselves in a spectacular underwater world and discover the challenges faced by our oceans today. It also focuses on the solutions that can be taken to make a credible change.
Perpetual Planet: Heroes of the Ocean documents the work of six marine scientists, five of whom are Rolex Award Laureates; Angélique Pouponneau, who is a Mission Blue champion for the Seychelles; and Ghislain Bardout, co-founder and Director of the Under The Pole expeditions.
The Cast Of Heroes Of The Ocean:
- Sylvia Earle has been involved with Rolex through exploration since 1970. President and Co-Chairman of Mission Blue, oceanographer, explorer, author of more than 225 publications and lecturer, she has a lifetime of experience as a field research scientist, government official and director for corporate and non-profit organizations.
- Emma Camp, 2019 Rolex Awards Associate Laureate, reveals how she has developed coral nurseries on the Great Barrier reef and offers hope for other vulnerable reefs around the world.
- In Antarctica, Michel André, 2002 Rolex Awards Laureate, is deploying pioneering new technology to listen to the ocean’s acoustic environment and help protect this pristine ocean from the threat of noise pollution.
- In Peru, Kerstin Forsberg, 2016 Rolex Awards Laureate, protects endangered manta rays by improving ocean literacy through education, developing ecotourism, and by raising awareness and empowering the next generation to take control.
- Brad Norman, 2006 Rolex Awards Laureate, uses sophisticated electronic tagging to protect whale sharks in his native Australia and beyond.
- In the depths of the Chilean fjords of Patagonia, Vreni Häussermann, 2016 Rolex Awards Laureate, has been using mini submersibles to find previously unknown coral species and protect them.
- Angélique Pouponneau represents a Mission Blue Hope Spot in the Seychelles. With the help of local communities, Mission Blue creates marine-protected ‘Hope Spots’ in areas of the oceans considered vital to the preservation of species or places where communities rely on a healthy marine environment for their livelihoods.
- Ghislain Bardout is co-founder and leader of the Under The Pole expeditions, which Rolex supports. Bardout developed a special capsule that enables scientists to stay underwater for72 hours at a time, gathering vital data to protect the oceans.
For more information on Rolex’s Planet Perpetual initiative, you can visit www.rolex.org.
Image Courtesy: Rolex
