James Cameron Brings Experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge Watch On Dive

By Valerie Jack | June 18, 2013

The Academy Award-winning director James Cameron has teamed up with luxury watchmaker Rolex on an experimental new timepiece designed to withstand a dive to the deepest place on Earth. Cameron, who shot to fame with the sci-fi flick Terminator in 1984, is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful directors in Hollywood, with countless blockbuster films including Aliens, The Abyss, Titanic and Avatar.

Between films, Cameron is equally as ambitious, creating documentary films about his exploration of the underwater world. While nearly every inch of the moon has been mapped, we have explored less than five percent of our own oceans. Cameron has been one of the leading pioneers in this field, co-developing the digital 3D Fusion Camera System to enable underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies.

Last year, Cameron became the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest part of the world’s oceans) in a solo descent (and only the third person to ever have reached the bottom). To commemorate that solo dive, Rolex has teamed up with National Geographic to create the Rolex Deepsea Challenge Exhibition. The traveling exhibition will bring patrons interactive audio and visual displays from the dive. The exhibition will be making its debut June 21 at Mayors Jewelers in Aventura and for the first time will be featuring Rolex’s Deepsea watches in The Sunshine State. The exhibition will eventually make the trip 200 miles north from Mayors Jewelers in Aventura to Mayors Jewelers in Orlando.

James Cameron was joined by Rolex during his historic dive; he wore a Rolex Deepsea, and attached to his sub was an experimental watch called the Rolex Deepsea Challenge. Cameron commented on the Rolex Deepsea Watch, “It’s a tremendous example of engineering know-how, and an ideal match for the Deepsea Challenger submersible.”