HERALD FOR SUSTAINABILITY

A CHAT WITH TRAVEL/ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGEMAKER JEREMY JAUNCEY ABOUT HIS PARTNERSHIP WITH PANERAI, WATCHES AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE WATCHMAKING WORLD

Jeremy Jauncey is the founder and CEO of Beautiful Destinations, “an award-winning strategy and creative agency for travel businesses.” The company is known for being innovative, having an immense social media presence and often collaborates with its diverse portfolio of partners. More importantly, however, Jauncey is known as a champion of travel as a force for good, both for the travelers themselves as well as the destinations they go to. Unsurprisingly, Jauncey has also been an ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund and GoldStandard.org.

And on World Oceans Day 2021, Jauncey officially joined Panerai’s family of global brand ambassadors. The partnership feels only natural: Jauncey has long been a fan of the Italian watch manufacturer and Panerai has been at the forefront of addressing the environmental impacts of watchmaking.

Just as Watches and Wonders Geneva

2022 was about to begin, DA MAN had the opportunity to chat with Jauncey about his ambassadorship with Panerai and his thoughts on sustainability. Here are excerpts from our exclusive interview.

DAMAN: What has been some of the most memorable or important milestones in your partnership with Panerai since your appointment as brand ambassador at World Oceans Day 2021?

Jeremy Jauncey: I’ve loved the brand long before I became an official ambassador, so I have a very longstanding connection with the brand. As our relationship developed, I was meeting individuals within the Panerai teams all across the world and getting to know the brand, trying to learn about the brand, trying to understand the core values behind the company. When we started an official partnership on World Oceans Day the whole story centered around: How do we raise awareness of sustainability today? But most importantly, how do we do it in a way that is inspiring, that motivates people, that gives people hope and optimism around the future?

So, what we’ve been doing is talking about two major things. One is how Panerai has become the leader in sustainable circular watch manufacture. One of the most impactful things I think the brand has done is actually open source the ability for anyone in the watch manufacturing scene to build upon the amazing work that has been done by Panerai in the last few years. I think that’s a huge milestone. There’s no credit I can take for that; I’ve just been a very fortunate participant to watch it unfold in front of us. But certainly, when it comes to making content and then helping the brand connect with a younger audience, that’s been where I spent most of my time trying to have an impact. If I can play a small role in educating the people that follow me or the people that know what I’m doing and what Panerai’s doing, then hopefully that can have a positive impact.

DA: Products made using “recycled-based materials” or “upscaled surplus materials” have become rather common catchphrases these days. At what point do you think does it become more than just a buzzword but a real design philosophy?

JJ: I think that’s a great question because when you actually look under the hood of what Panerai has done and really, deeply understand the changes that have been made from a supply chain standpoint, you realize how much of an investment in time, resources, people and effort has gone into making this a reality. Panerai could very easily have done the marketing and done the green-washing—which we’ve seen happen across a whole load of luxury brands where they just talk about the fact that sustainability is important. Instead, Panerai has gone deeply to the roots of the whole manufacturing process and then, as I said, open-sourced it so that everybody can see and other brands within the industry can actually benefit from the work that has been done.

I think when you start to understand the depth that Panerai has gone, you realize that on the front end, they’re doing an amazing job from a marketing and brand awareness standpoint.

I believe very passionately that if we want people to embrace sustainability, change the way that they live their lives, it has to come from places that they respect. Whether that’s art, culture, sports, music, fashion—those are the things that drive cultural change. Panerai has come forward as an amazingly cool and inspiring brand that cares deeply about sustainability and helps consumers understand why it’s such an important message to buy into. But then on the reverse side, its is able to say: “What we’ve done as a brand is difficult and so we want everybody to learn from the work that we’ve done, so that everybody within the industry can make a change.” I think that’s the most inspiring thing for me to learn.

DA: When the average person thinks about corporate sustainability efforts, watchmaking is not the industry that generally comes to mind. How significant do you think is the impact that watch manufacturing actually contributes to our collective efforts to become more environmentally-friendly?

JJ: That leans more into the kind of influence that the brand has with customers who wear the brand. We know there’s some very, very high-profile people around the world who wear the brand, love the brand and can influence consumers. Just as an example, Dwayne

“The Rock” Johnson was wearing a Panerai Submersible at the Super Bowl. That was broadcast to hundreds of millions of people around the world. That kind of influence within culture, within people, I think is enormous.