Ulysse Nardin Diver X Antarctica

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Ulysse Nardin Diver X Antarctica – an ode to ice: Terra Australis, as Antarctica was formerly called – the last continent to be discovered and the Earth’s southernmost, most hostile landmass – has been a source of fascination for explorers, scientists and historians for the two centuries since it was first sighted. A place of mystery and intrigue, the frozen tip of the planet has been fabled destination and source of fascination since Aristotle wrote about a possible Antarctic region in his tome Meteorology circa 350 BC.

Terra Australis, as Antarctica was formerly called – the last continent to be discovered and the Earth’s southernmost, most hostile landmass – has been a source of fascination for explorers, scientists and historians for the two centuries since it was first sighted. A place of mystery and intrigue, the frozen tip of the planet has been fabled destination and source of fascination since Aristotle wrote about a possible Antarctic region in his tome Meteorology circa 350 BC.

In an ode to the essence of exploration and all it entails, Ulysse Nardin has designed the DIVER X ANTARCTICA. An avatar in the world of watchmaking, the ANTARCTICA model of the DIVER X is a watch that brings the “X-factor” to tackle world’s roughest seas – in honor of the modern-day Ulysses who choose to risk exploring this daunting, dangerous place, literally located at the end of the Earth. With its light blue icebergs and frozen ocean, beacons of an age long past, Antarctica has no longitude coordinates, only a location of 90° latitude.

Sebastian Copeland is a photographer who uses his artistic work to communicate messages of urgent global significance. A friend of the Swiss watch manufacture Ulysse Nardin since November 2019 he joined the brand’s armada of modern explorers known as “Team of Ulysses” together with other free-spirited watermen and women: Fred Buyle, Alex Caizergues, Mathieu Crepel, Sebastien Destremau, Ben Thouard and Alessia Zecchini. Sebastian’s images have been seen around the world and his books are a reference for modern explorers as well as for those merely curious about the extreme climate; the cold, dry and windblown, least inhabited continent on Earth. On the centennial 2011-2012 season of the South Pole, with partner Eric McNair-Landry, Sebastian spent more than his fair share of time in the field, witnessing this marvel of time untouched firsthand. He led the first East/West transcontinental crossing of Antarctica by skis and kites via two of its poles, setting three world records over the 4100 kilometers during an expedition through the polar desert that lasted a grueling 82 days. Sebastian is planning a new expedition to cross the Arctic Ocean in 2021.

The fruit of Sebastian’s labor has been seen on the National Geographic Channel, CNN, in the New York Times and Paris Match, among others. He is a devoted proponent of environmental conservation and his published books are a living testament to his crusade. “Helping people fall in love with their world,” he says, ”is a catalyst to wanting to save it”.

A polar symphony of light and ice, the Ulysse Nardin Diver X ANTARCTICA is an extension of his deep love and respect for the planet. “Ulysse Nardin is a brand as devoted to our planet’s oceans as I am. I believe that our partnership will bring important benefits to all parties concerned and, hopefully, raise awareness of what we need to do to take better care of this great blue planet.”

DIVER X ANTARCTICA

A matte white rubber strap recalls the clean and austere lines of the Earth’s Southernmost Continent with ice blue touches on the dial reflecting the icebergs floating in the sea there. The Ulysse Nardin brand element is prominent under the sand-blasted dial. The bezel – in a white rubber – matches the watch strap. Its UN-118 movement guarantees accuracy in any hemisphere at any time of the day or night. The gray face is marked with a bold and elegant “X”. The crown, horns and case back are all made from titanium.

The stamp on the back of the watch details not only the coordinates of the Antarctic Continent: 90° latitude (with no longitude necessary for the landmass located at the southernmost tip of the Earth) but also the route of the Vendée Globe sailing race, of which Ulysse Nardin has become the official sponsor.

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About Ulysse Nardin – Manufacture of Freedom

Ulysse Nardin is the Pioneering Manufacture inspired by the sea and delivering innovative timepieces to free spirits.

Founded by Mr. Ulysse Nardin in 1846 and a proud member of the global luxury group Kering since November 2014, Ulysse Nardin has written some of the finest chapters in the history of Haute Horlogerie. The company’s earliest renown came from its links to the nautical world: its marine chronometers are among the most reliable ever made, still sought by collectors around the world. A pioneer of cutting-edge technologies and the innovative use of materials like silicon, the brand is one of the few with the in-house expertise to produce its own high-precision components and movements. This exceptional level of watchmaking excellence has earned Ulysse Nardin membership in the most exclusive circle of Swiss watchmaking, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie. Today, from its sites in Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, the brand’s continuing quest for horological perfection centers around five collections: The Marine, the Diver, the Classico, the Executive and the Freak. In 2019, Ulysse Nardin introduces the X-factor in watchmaking. www.ulysse-nardin.com

SEBASTIAN COPELAND

POLAR EXPLORER, PHOTOGRAPHER & ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST.

Sebastian Copeland is a polar explorer, award winning photographer, author, public speaker and environmental activist. In 2017, Men’s Journal named Sebastian one of 25 of the world’s top adventurers of the last 25 years. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Vanity Fair, Outside, American Photo, The New York Times, People, USA Today, Paris Match, Stern as well on NBC, CBS, NPR, The Weather Channel and CNN’s Larry King Live. A Summa Cum Laude graduate of UCLA (’87) and the son of an illustrious family of artists (his father is classical conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus), Sebastian — a British/French/US national relocated to NY in 1980 — began his career directing music videos and commercials, and photographing fashion, celebrities and advertising.

Sebastian has been noted as a photographer “who has produced works that are of outstanding artistic merit and communicates messages of urgent global significance.” Sebastian uses photography as a medium for activism. “Helping people fall in love with their world,” he says, ”is a catalyst to wanting to save it”.

Sebastian won the prestigious International Photography Awards’ 2007 Professional Photographer of the Year for his best selling first book Antarctica: A Global Warning (Palace Press). In 2008, Sebastian released a second book titled Antarctica: A Call To Action. His latest book Arctica: The Vanishing North (teNeues) was released in 2015 for which Sebastian won the Photographer of the Year award from the 2016 Tokyo Int’l Photo Awards. It also won the ITB Book Award; and the Global Arctic Award’s book category. His fine quality prints have appeared at the United Nations (Solo Show, 2007); the Council on Foreign Relations; Peabody Essex Museum; the Field Museum and the BACC museum among others. These works can also be found in private collections in both the United States and Europe and several are now part of the permanent archive of The Natural World Museum in San Francisco. In 2018, the French Sénat awarded Sebastian with the prestigious solo exhibition around the gates of the Luxembourg gardens. This public exhibit of 80 large panels of Sebastian’s polar photographs reached 4 million visitors over the four months with an urgent climate message.

A personal commitment to fight for the protection of the environment and a relentless pursuit of a sustainable future has led Sebastian to focus on visual arts as a tool for social change. Since 1999, Sebastian has worked closely with Global Green USA (the US arm of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International), where he serves on the Board of Directors. A life-long waterman, climber and mountaineer, Sebastian has specialized his adventure skills to polar exploration, and re-tooled his commercial photography roots into Fine Art as a medium for activism. Since 1999, he has led various expeditions to the Polar regions. Sebastian spearheaded a media effort in the Arctic in 2005 in defense of the Inuit. He spent two seasons (2006 and 2007) aboard a scientific research icebreaker in the Antarctic Peninsula. In 2008 with partner Luc Hardy, Sebastian led a team of nine children from international nationalities to the northernmost Canadian Arctic as the Young Ambassadors of the Arctic. In March 2009, Sebastian led a mission to what is widely considered the most difficult expedition in the world: the geographical North Pole. He and his partner Keith Heger walked seven hundred kilometers to commemorate the centennial of Admiral Peary’s reach in 1909. Sebastian chronicled the mission in his first documentary Into The Cold: A Journey Of The Soul. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and has won multiple international awards.

In 2010, Sebastian and his partner Eric McNair-Landry spent 43 days crossing the Greenland ice sheet using skis and kites and without outside support. During the 2300 kilometers crossing, they set a new world record for longest distance traveled on kites and skis over one twenty-hour period by covering 595 kilometers. The trip was chronicled in Sebastian’s second documentary film, Across The Ice (2015) produced for Red Bull Media House.

On the centennial 2011-2012 season of the South Pole, again with partner Eric McNair-Landry, Sebastian led the first East/West transcontinental crossing of Antarctica by skis and kites via two of its poles, setting three world records over the 4100 kilometers/82 days expedition. In 2016, Sebastian and partner Mark George completed the longest unsupported East-West crossing of the Simpson Desert, Australia’s driest area.

The expedition was a training exercise for his second mission to the North Pole from Canada, in winter 2017, perhaps the last of its kind due to the rapidly melting ice.

That North Pole mission was dramatically aborted due to severe frostbites. In 2021, Sebastian will undertake to complete mission, purporting to be the last team in history to reach the pole from land. As an international speaker on climate crisis, Sebastian has been featured on television and radio (Larry King Live, CBS, NPR, Air America) and has addressed audiences at the United Nations, the COP21 in Paris, the World Affairs Council, the General Assembly on Climate in New Orleans, the George Eastman House, Hewlett Packard, Google Headquarters, VF Corp and to Apple’s Senior Design Team amongst others. He has spoken at Universities, museums and embassies, as well as international climate summits addressing the systemic geopolitical consequences of climate change. In 2011, Sebastian founded the SEDNA foundation whose mission is to report from the front lines of climate change. Sebastian is a regular contributor to Men’s Journal, The Huffington Post, and Al Gore’s 24 hours of Climate Reality.

In 2008, Sebastian was named German GQ’s Man of the Year for environmental leadership. In 2009, he received the Founder’s Award from Global Green USA, and in 2010 the Gala Award for his environmental stewardship. He was commended twice by the City of Los Angeles, in 2005 and 2009, and received the Green Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in 2014. In 2016, Eckart Witzigmann and BMW honored Sebastian with the Eckart ‘16 Award for Personal Engagement. In 2018, Sebastian received the Medal of Light from Thailand’s cultural minister for “sustained excellence in the art of photography”. In 2018, Sebastian followed in the footsteps of Jane Goodall and Arnold Schwarzenegger when he received the Bambi award in Germany, in the “Unsere Erde” (“Our Earth”) category. In 2019, French President Macron will knight Sebastian in the National Order of Merit.

He is a brand ambassador for Napapjri clothing and Herbalife. Past and current sponsors include Hewlett Packard, REVO sunglasses (both as brand ambassador), Canon, Lexar, MSR, Rossignol, Nemo, Ozone Kites, MSR, Organic Foodbar and Hilleberg tents among others. Since November 2019 Sebastian is a friend of the Swiss watch manufacture Ulysse Nardin and joined the brand’s armada of modern explorers known as “Team of Ulysses” together with other free-spirited watermen: Fred Buyle, Alex Caizergues, Mathieu Crepel, Sebastien Destremau, Ben Thouard and Alessia Zecchini.

Sebastian has two daughters with his wife, Carolin. He is a member of the Explorer’s Club and the International Glaciology Society, and currently lives between Los Angeles and Munich.