Doing Good
This year, a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe from the Pacific,
Hōkūle’a, arrived at the United Nations timed for the World Oceans Day
festivities. In his message, Nainoa Thompson, President of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Master Navigator of the Hōkūle’a shared
first-hand stories of the state of the ocean and presented declarations
and commitments to action entrusted to Hōkūle’a.
Blancpain Dives
to Save the Oceans
B
lancpain has long supported initiatives designed to
preserve and protect the world’s oceans. Indeed, the
company has been has been active in the ocean ever
since it presented the first modern diving watch, the
Fifty Fathoms, in 1953.
In recognition of this heritage, Blancpain has in the past
decade been specifically dedicated to raise awareness of ocean
protection issues through support of important scientific projects,
ocean exploration initiatives, underwater photography, environmental forums, public exhibits, major publications and a dedicated web
site. The brand’s efforts in all of these areas are expressed globally
as Blancpain’s Ocean Commitment, and this past year saw several
additional events that continued those efforts.
This summer, Blancpain U.S. Brand Manager David Gely
addressed the crowd gathered at the United Nations for World
Oceans Day (June 8) about the brand’s long-standing commitment
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Wristwatch | 2016
to the Ocean and its ongoing partnership with the United Nations.
Blancpain first became involved in the celebration of World Oceans
Day in 2013 when the brand sponsored “Oceans,” an underwater
photographic exhibition at the U.N. The exhibit was visited by more
than 100,000 people and it highlighted the ecological and economic
importance of healthy oceans and the need to protect their fragile
ecology and submarine life. The exhibition featured photographs
by sixteen photographers whose work is featured in Edition Fifty
Fathoms, Blancpain’s own yearly publication dedicated to the
underwater world.
You may recall that in 2014 Blancpain unveiled the first piece
of a series of limited edition diving watches, the Ocean Commitment
Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback, and connected the special
limited editions to its global Ocean Commitment by making a charitable contribution in the amount of 1,000 euros for each watch in
the limited series.