In March, 2018, Panerai signed Guillaume Néry as its brand ambassador and built two-year cooperation with him. Guillaume Néry began talking about a history of Panerai and ocean by a short film with a with Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 PAM01389. Born in Nice, France in 1982, Guillaume Néry is a professional free diver who specializes in deep diving. He thinks that the free diving is not only a underwater sport but a way to learn about the life, explore unknown fields and challenge the limit of humans. He fell in love with diving at the age of 14. He kept challenging himself and renewing another record in the past more than 20 years. To today, he broke 4 world’s free diving records and took the first place in the constant weight World Freediving twice. Let’s follow him to explore the extreme sport.
What’s free diving?
Guillaume Néry: Free diving or breath-hold diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on divers’ ability to hold their breath until resurfacing rather than on the use of a breathing apparatus. Free diving and Scuba diving are ways to explore underwater world. There are some differences between them. You can rely on your scuba equipment when you are scuba diving. You only hold your deep breath to explore the underwater when free diving.
What’s the appeal or challenge of free diving?
GN: Always I am attracted by unknown fields, such as a high mountain, the vast universe and the underwater world. A unique experience comes to my mind when I begin exploring the underwater world. It’s exciting to break world records, because it needs the balance of my body, my mind and the water.
As an experienced free diver, did you meet something adventurous?
GN: Free diving is considered as a dangerous sport, in fact, it’s very safe, but on condition that you had better do it alone. I will be with my team during the exercise or the game. It’s inevitable to meet unexpected situations, so I insist in improving and adapting to them. It in 2015 that I met the most dangerous challenge. My goal was to break my fifth world record-129-meter-deep free diving, but I should go into the 139-meter depth, for the sponsor did a wrong measurement with ropes. That caused I lost my consciousness in meters away from sea level. Fortunately, I recovered myself completely days later.
What makes you cooperate with Panerai?
GN: Panerai has had a deep relationship with sea since it was established, and sea runs into the DNA of the watch brand. When we began to cooperate, I realized a Panerai diving watch would be my good partner. When I wore a Panerai watch on my wrist for the first time, I felt proud because I was a part of the history of the long-standing brand. It’s my honor to be its brand ambassador.
Why do you choose Panerai PAM01389?
Too many reasons! PAM01389 has 300-meter water resistance, more than my one-breath-hold diving depth. This is very important because it’s the only item I can carry with under the water. There is no light under the water and water is very cold, so Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic 3 Days Automatic Titanio with a super-luminous substance helps me a lot. The iconic device protecting the crown guarantees security. Made of titanium alloy, Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 PAM01389 is much lighter than I expected. Its caoutchouc watchband in black matches with my diving suit perfectly. Besides these, I hope to share my passion for underwater world with more, so I care my suits, accessories and collocation in the videos. To pass the best underwater beauty to the public, I do every of underwater actions carefully and guarantee beautiful pictures. In a word, Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic 3 Days Automatic Titanio PAM01389 achieves my expectation.
