Since 2008, Jaeger-LeCoultre has been pursuing its involvement with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the International Herald Tribune through the Tides of Time partnership in order to support the endangered sites.
Since 2008 Jaeger-LeCoultre has entered into a partnership with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to support the preservation of outstanding marine sites that are in immediate need of protection and raise international awareness of this environmental cause. Jaeger-LeCoultre has joined the International Herald Tribune in publishing information about the eight selected UNESCO World Heritage sites in its “Tides of Time” section. For more detailed information please click HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE …
To reach a large audience, a nano-site comprising interactive news features, profiles, video reports and interviews concerning Tides of Time Programme has been developed on the New York Times website (nytimes.com). In addition, Jaeger-LeCoultre provides a direct financial support for marine World Heritage site managers thanks to the auction of a unique Jaeger-LeCoultre watch. The proceeds from the sale are entirely donated to a marine protected area.
From April 23rd to 26th 2013 the Swiss Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre now organized its fifth online ‘Tides of Time’ auction dedicated to preserving the world heritage marine sites.
After the first auction in 2009 Jaeger-LeCoultre donated 13.540 £ for the site Tubbataha in the Philippines, after the second Auction in 2010 Jaeger-LeCoultre donated 12.600 £ for the site Sundarbans in India, after the third auction in 2011 Jaeger-LeCoultre donated £16.000 for the site Malpelo in Columbia and after the fourth auction in 2012 Jaeger-LeCoultre donated 9.300 £ for the site Puerta Princesa in the Philippines.
This year Jaeger-LeCoultre was offering a one-of-a-kind model inspired by the 1959 Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Deep Sea: the prototype N°1 of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet presented the first time at the SIHH in Geneva last January.
The 2013 auction proceeds to help safeguard world heritage marine sites was 20.000 USD.
The 20.000 USD have meanwhile been donated to one of the 46 marine sites on the UNESCO world heritage list: the Fernando de Noronha and Atol des Rocas nature reserves. Located amid the Brazilian Atlantic islands, the Fernando de Noronha reserve hosts the largest concentration of tropical seabirds of the West Atlantic. Its fertile waters also offer extremely important breeding grounds and sources of sustenance for tuna fish, sharks, turtles and sea mammals.
The money will be used to buy a motorboat and with the new “Zodiac”-boat the parks staff will monitor and patrol the Atlantic Ocean around the island. One of the first goals is to stop illegal fishing that is still been practiced by natives on the island and by some desperados coming to the island by boat although it is forbidden to do so.
Last week I met Dr. Fanny Douvere, the Coordinator of the UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme.
I invite you to listen what she told me about her work and the UNESCO partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre.
The UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme
Launched in 2005, the World Heritage Marine Programme aims to establish effective conservation of existing and potential marine areas of Outstanding Universal Value to make sure they will be maintained and thrive for generations to come. Today, the 46 marine World Heritage sites cover about 1/4 by area of all 6,000 marine protected areas (MPAs) on the planet. They have the highest internationally recognized status for conservation and represent the Crown Jewels of the Ocean, a network of sites that is selected and held accountable for its management actions through a rigorous monitoring and evaluation process set against the highest standards of international best practice.
What has been achieved so far?
Between 2009-2012, the Tides of Time partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre and the International Herald Tribune and the additional support of the Government of Flanders (Belgium) enabled the World Heritage Centre to lay the foundation for a solid future for its Marine Programme. Since 2009, the Centre has:
- Doubled the marine area protected under the 1972 World Heritage Convention: the World Heritage List now includes 5 of the 10 largest MPAs in the World;
- Established a substantial marine World Heritage site managers community by pooling their wealth of expertise and management successes together through a web-based forum and bi-annual meetings where concrete results are shared and communicated;
- Developed science-based guidance to support States Parties in nominating new potential marine World Heritage sites and help sites implement the latest management tools and technologies;
- Achieved unprecedented recognition for the largely unexplored potential of the 1972 World Heritage Convention for ocean conservation among NGOs and the wider public;
- Launched a roadmap to scale up management capacity, making marine World Heritage sites ready to cope with increasingly challenging ocean environments;
- Started new projects to develop twinning arrangements between marine sites to work jointly on conservation challenges, in particular in Banc d’Arguin, the Wadden Sea, Phoenix Islands, Papahanaumokuakea, Tubbataha and the Great Barrier reef.
Isn’t this fantastic? What do you personally think?
Of course the world of “bling-bling” is important in the world of luxury products and I do not blame any other company spending a lot of money with or for VIPs. To me these superficial “bling-bling” activities do not mean very much, but I have real great respect for the active involvement of Jaeger-LeCoultre to help safeguarding the UNESCO world heritage.
And here last but not least I have some information about the 2013 Jaeger-LeCoultre watch that has been auctioned…
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet diver’s watch is powered by Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 758, the Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet watch is a direct descendant of the famous 1959 Memovox Deep Sea, the first automatic diver’s watch equipped with an alarm that had called for the full inventive force of the Jaeger-LeCoultre watchmakers. In 2013, the icon gets a makeover with a brand-new case in reinforced Cermet. Composed of an aluminium matrix reinforced by ceramic particles and then covered with a 40 micron-thick protective ceramic coating, this 44 mm case is more resistant to shocks and pressure than pure ceramics, and is also surprisingly light – assets that divers are sure to appreciate. This diver’s watch with its 65-hour power reserve is inspired by an historical Jaeger-LeCoultre achievement: the Chronoflight device invented in the 1930s. On the Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet diver’s watch, a chronograph operating indicator composed of two (red and white) discs serves to enhance diver’s safety by providing them with at-a-glance readings of the state of the chronograph: i.e. whether it is on, off or reset to zero.
