Jaeger-LeCoultre presents a new film with Benedict Cumberbatch to launch the Polaris Mariner Memovox
To mark the launch of its new Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Memovox diving watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre has released a short film In A Breath, made in collaboration with Benedict Cumberbatch, a long-time friend of the Maison. In it, Benedict draws the parallel between his longstanding practice of meditation and diving – and the impact that both have on our sense of time.
The film takes place in Rakino Island, New-Zealand, in a magical wilderness. It captures the relationship between breath and time, the transcendent state induced by both meditation and diving, and the deep connection with nature that is triggered by both activities.
For Benedict Cumberbatch, meditation brings a sense of “serenity, connection and being alive”, he says. “When you reconnect with what’s really going on in your inner life, when you are in a still space… you distance yourself from the distracting traffic of life… When you sit in that, you have a very clear focus [on the present] and that’s what you’re aiming for in the flow state of any performance – whether it is athletic or acting or a moment of creation or artistry. You want to be in the flow, disconnected and connected at the same time.”
As the film reveals, in the otherworldly realm under water, external distractions disappear; divers feel suspended in space and lose all sense of the temporal world. As they focus entirely on the moment and the world that surrounds them, the only measure of time is their own breathing and the watch on their wrist.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Memovox
The robust capabilities and distinctive aesthetic of the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Memovox pay direct homage to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s first diving watches. Functionality has been enhanced, to be fully compliant with ISO 6425 diving specifications and water-resistant to 300 metres (30 bar), while the concentric rings of the gradient blue dial create a sporty and distinctively contemporary aesthetic. The self-winding movement, Calibre 956, is a direct descendant of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s first automatic alarm watch calibres. With a new peripheral gong designed to allow for a transparent sapphire case-back, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Memovox retains the signature “school bell” sound that lends such charm to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s alarm watches.