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OSCARS SPECIAL: “My watch story,” with James Cameron OSCARS SPECIAL: “My watch story,” with James Cameron

OSCARS SPECIAL: “My watch story,” with James Cameron

Andrew McUtchen

Editor’s Note: As we head towards the Oscars in a few days, I can’t help but think of that time I spoke to the man who won three of them in one night, James Cameron. And what did we talk about? At  his behest, not mine (honestly, I was content to stay on Terminator 2 for as long as possible) we talked about watches. “What do you do, Andrew? Oh, a site about watches. Do you want to hear my watch story?” And off we went. The scope did expand to megalodons, solar flares and more, because – pardon the spoiler – his watch story is not as epic as his movies…

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The man, the watch. Both legends. The Rolex Deepsea with D-Blue dial.

AM: What was the first watch you were really attached to?

JC: “It was a Rolex Submariner…. I just always saw Rolex as the best dive watches. I mean, they invented the dive watch back in 1926. I just always associated the Rolex Submariner with divers.”

AM: Have you always worn one? Are you into collecting watches?

JC: “No, I don’t collect watches. For me, when they asked me to be a brand ambassador for Rolex… It’s not like I would choose to be a brand ambassador for anything! I’ve always had a Submariner on my wrist. I’ve worn one every day for 30 years.”

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James Cameron on the set of Titanic, wearing his trusty Rolex Submariner. Shot from www.spotaleopard.com

 

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James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on the set of Titanic. Shot from www.theredlist.com

AM: What was your next watch after that?

JC: “This one. The newer version of the Rolex Deepsea, you have to look at it in the light…. (he turns and finds a strong yellow ray from a downlight above) it’s the only time Rolex has ever done this in their history (release a commemorative model for a specific expedition). You can see it has a blue dial face that gets deeper to black. It’s not too different to their normal Deepsea dive watch. My wife (of 16 years, actress Suzy Amis, who starred in Titanic and The Usual Suspects) has one too. It’s big on her wrist but she loves wearing it. Why do you like watches so much?”

AM: I just think they’re unlikely survivors. We live in a digital age and there’s this mechanical, 17th century technology on our wrists. I think people find it somehow reassuring.

JC: “Yeah, it also can’t be stopped by an electromagnetic pulse or a particularly strong solar flare.”

AM: What about the Rolex Deepsea Challenge watch on the arm of the submersible (the Deepsea Challenger) that went 36,000 feet down with you?

JC: “That one was much bigger. It was much chunkier. It was experiencing real pressure. And Rolex whipped that watch together in five weeks from scratch. It’s a huge engineering feat. I don’t think people really appreciate what that means; to go from CAD designs to cutting the metal, to assembling the pieces and delivering, only five weeks later, a completely new design.”

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The Rolex Deepsea Challenge watch, water resistant to a staggering 12000-metres. And still wearable.

AM: How did Rolex approach you to be an ambassador?

JC: “They asked me ‘What do you think of Rolex watches?’ I said I think of my Submariner as part of my identity as a diver and, they said ‘ah, we want you’.” (At this point, a woman, overhearing our conversation cuts in and says “For you Rolex may stand for diving and adventure, and you obviously identify with the brand for this reason, but for most it’s more a sign of prestige…”) “They may have introduced this new model, but Rolex don’t chase whims, they don’t chase pop culture. They really like tradition, their support of exploration science is tremendous and they love the fact that being part of this exploration closed the ellipse on the Bathyscaphe Trieste expedition in 1960 (the first manned vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench), because they had a watch then that went down on the outside of that vessel too.”

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The Rolex Deepsea Challenger (2012) and the Rolex Deep Sea Special (1960)

AM: Have you been to the Rolex movement manufacture in Geneva?

JC: “Yes, I have. And it’s phenomenal. You should see their robotic delivery, their parts delivery system. It’s just phenomenal. It’s like being in a science-fiction movie.”

AM: You are now one of only a handful of people to touch down on the bottom of the Mariana Trench, is the itch to explore scratched? 

JC: “Oh no, it never gets resolved, it’s open-ended, it’s like science. For every question science asks that is answered, three more become known. The investigation is always ongoing. And I love that about science. The fact that it’s never over. But we can certainly start to rule out a lot of things, a lot of superstitions. I don’t like living with superstitions, I like living with answers, with reality.”

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Unfortunately Cameron did NOT spot a Megalodon in the Mariana Trench.

AM: Did you see any Megalodons down there?

JC: “I’m very skeptical about their existence. For starters, there’d be nothing for them to eat. The whale population is down to 5% in many large species. But I do have lots of megalodon teeth around my living room. They’re great conversation starters.”

AM: Is that resistance to superstition unusual for a creative? For someone who imagines for a living?

JC: “Is that true? I don’t necessarily think that way. I mean there’s certainly 100 years of science fiction authors who weren’t superstitious and they were really creative people. I think there’s a great creativity in engineering, there’s a great creativity in designing new machines and there’s creativity in physics.”

AM: Is there room for instinct in the sciences?

JC: “That’s a funny question. Scientists will tell you there’s no instinct in what they do, but I believe there is. I believe they almost instinctively, almost holographically process, at a subconscious level, towards an answer. And then they find the facts and data to support the hypothesis.”

AM: Do you mind if we photograph your watch?

JC: “Not at all, but you really need to see it in the light though. The thing is, if you want to do a tight shot you want to catch this blue though, because it fades from blue into black. If you think about how they had to work out the technology to get that gradation, because there’s so much material in science that goes into the colours that they do in their faces and how the colour is bonded to the dial. It’s hard to see in this light just how it graduates from blue into black in the same way that you experience as you get deeper and deeper underwater.”

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The watch. The dial.  The brand new Rolex Deepsea D-Blue.

Special thanks to to Louise Hutchins of Rolex Australia for her perseverance in making this interview and shoot possible.