INTO THE DEEP
Tudor ambassador Morgan Bourc’his shares his fascinating experience swimming with whales while shooting a new documentary: The Quest for Nature
Morgan Bourc’his traded freediving for a few months of swimming with whales to shoot a new documentary, The Quest for Nature, which highlights the precarious relationship between man and marine life. The TUDOR ambassador reflects on this once-in-a-lifetime experience with stephanie ip.
WORLD CHAMPION FREEDIVER MORGAN BOURC’HIS FIRST WORKED WITH TUDOR IN 2014 to film a promotional feature film for the Pelagos watch. Released in 2012, the Pelagos derived its name from the Ancient Greek word for “open sea” and is the more contemporary and advanced of the brand’s two dive collections. Whereas the Black Bay leans towards a more vintage aesthetic, the Pelagos is robust and functional – at the time of its launch it was the only timepiece from either Tudor or Rolex to be encased in titanium; it also features a helium escape valve that enables it to attain a 500-metre depth rating. It was also one of two Tudor watches (the other being the North Flag) to debut Tudor’s first in-house calibre, the MT5612, signifying the importance of this collection to the brand.
Soon after the launch of the Pelagos, Bourc’his was appointed a Tudor ambassador. His values are clearly so closely aligned with the brand’s that he unfailingly wears his blue Pelagos to this day, taking it with him on manyof his record-setting dives in some of the most beautiful and untouched locations around the world. But Bourc’his also had a dream – one that had little to do with freediving: he dreamt about swimming with orcas and whales, in frigid waters off the coast of northern Norway, far from the balmy Mediterranean.
Tudor, like its big brother Rolex, has historically supported adventurers who dare to go beyond their own limitations to explore Earth’s uncharted territories, a tradition that’s been passed down from its founder Hans Wilsdorf. Bourc’his’ dream to swim with whales and produce a documentary film called The Quest of Nature, which would chronicle his adventure and draw awareness to the negative impact humanity has had on, is exactlyin that pioneering spirit.
Here Bourc’his talks about his ambitions, and how he shot the documentary with friend and director Jean-Charles Granjon, who wrote, directed and produced the film, as well as the thrill of diving with the giantsof the sea.
“NORWAY IS PROBABLY THE ONLY PLACE IN EUROPE WHERE HUMANS AND CETACEANS SHARE SO CLEARLY THEIR ENVIRONMENT”
WHAT DREW YOU TO WORK ON THE QUEST FOR NATURE? Jean-Charles made a first trip in Norway in 2016, where he encountered cetaceans for the first time. After that trip we had several discussions about diving and meeting cetaceans in cold sea. The idea of a documentary came gradually. He’s always kept me on track about his projects, his narratives, his various missions around the world. Norway is probably the only place in Europe where humans and cetaceans share so clearly their environment. Fishing activities are an economic mainstay, but whale-watching activities are also another one. It’s resulted in a coexistence, and a sharing of fishing resources between fisherfolk and cetaceans. We wanted to explore how it works, and we wanted to dive with the giants of the sea.
WHICH PART OF THE FILMING WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE ONE? The underwater scene with the two humpback whales ascending from the bottom, with gaping jaws, is going to live a long time in my mind. We were above a herring school, which should be avoided as far as possible. I had many thoughts during our session, whether humpback whales could unexpectedly appear. If so, we shouldn’t be in their path! I felt that something was happening. The fish were quite turbulent, but it must be noted that they thought they were being hunted by killer whales! And then the two humpback whales appeared just below us, with their huge mouths open. We were in their path, and there was nothing we could do. They gently changed direction to avoid us, but they were so close! We just waited, wide-eyed and breathless for 15 amazing seconds.
WHAT DOES TUDOR’S SUPPORT MEAN TO YOU ON THIS JOURNEY? The support of my partner was essential. It’s very simple: without Tudor, the film couldn’t have been made. But beyond that, it’s above all a sign of the trust and recognition that the brand has shown me. Since 2014 we’ve been working together on the creation of various projects, activities and events. I’m a friend of the brand and the Pelagos watch is the greatest companion in my professional life, but also in my daily private life. WhenI spoke about the film that Jean-Charles wanted to make, the management team was immediately seduced and agreed to be part of this adventure. For me it meant a lot and this perfectly represents the relationship of trust that we’ve had all these years.
HOW DOES THE BRAND’S MOTTO, BORN TO DARE, RESONATE WITH YOU? To me, it means that people should try to be as creative as possible. In 2019, when I became world champion for the third time, I really applied that slogan, deciding to train exactly as I wanted, innovating and daring things that I didn’t have a clue about. I completed my final preparation for the last two months by dry training and simulating high altitudes with a machine. There are protocols for endurance training for ultra-trail, for example, but no one knows if these are relevant for deep apnea, or how to do it. I tried the experiment, so is that why I became world champion? There are other factors, of course, but I believed in what I was doing. In the last scene of the movie The Quest for Nature, we went into the water at night among killer whales and beside a fishing boat in action. No one told us how to do it, but we went anyway, believing in our action plan. And it worked! So Tudor’s Born to Dare spirit accompanies me in all my projects.