#prestigediversions | JULY 2019 PRESTIGE 127
F
reediving has been an integral part of Guillaume
Néry’s life from an early age. The French
freediving champion grew up in Nice, by the
Mediterranean Sea, and took his first plunge
into the sport – diving on a single held breath instead of
using breathing apparatus like scuba gear – at the age of
- At 20, he became the youngest freedive record holder
in the world when he reached a depth of 87m. Néry went
on to break three more world records in the following years
and won two World Freediving Championship titles in the
Constant Weight category.
In 2015, Néry attempted a 129m dive in Cyprus
during the pre-competition to the aida Individual World
Championship. Had he succeeded, the Frenchman would
have broken yet another world record. The organising body,
aida International, made a mistake while measuring the
guide line though, and sent Néry down to 139m instead.
Although he succeeded in reaching the bottom, he blacked
out at 15m while resurfacing. The near-death experience
and accompanying lung injury prompted Néry to retire
from competing, but he never really left the sea; he
continued to freedive, and went on to make several beautiful
underwater films with his wife, who is also a freediver.
Néry’s impressive results – as both competitor and
film-maker – drew the attention of Panerai, which brought
him on board as its brand ambassador. The two also
collaborated to create limited editions of the Submersible;
the new Submersible Chrono Guillaume Néry Edition
was introduced at sihh this year, and each of the rarer,
15-piece limited-edition reference comes with an offer
for its owner to learn freediving from Néry in French
Polynesia this September.
Unsurprisingly, the 37-year-old could not stay away
from the sport for long and started competing again last
year. In Shanghai in May for Panerai’s Survival Instruments
For Modern Heroes event, Néry talked about his new
motivations for going back into competitive freediving and
the message he wants to share with the world.
Why did you start freediving competitively again
after a three-year hiatus?
I needed this break to realise that freediving is not just
about breaking records. When I stopped, I really started
to discover the magic of freediving. I still want to compete
and dive deep, but I’m more relaxed and I don’t care
about records. I’ve done the records. Now, I’m more
interested in diving deeper inside of myself. We as humans
really have a special connection with the underwater
world and I want to explore that. And to feel this connection
more, I want to stay underwater longer and go deeper.
But I don’t link it to numbers or medals anymore. It’s a
more personal approach, and I like the discipline of the
competition process that is required to achieve that. It’s
more about self-improvement and how to become better.What has your journey with Panerai been like
so far?
The connection with the brand was always obvious to me
because I grew up in Nice and train in the Mediterranean
Sea, while Panerai has its roots in the Mediterranean Sea,
very close to where I live. I also saw that Panerai was
supporting explorer Mike Horn’s expeditions and I
admire his spirit of adventure, so I was like, “Wow, this
brand has everything.” To me, Panerai has both purpose-
driven efficiency and aesthetics in its designs, which are
very important in a watch, just like how I try to be efficient
and aesthetic in the way I’m moving in the water and
creating films. So there was a lot of similarity and it was a
natural collaboration.How involved were you in designing the
Submersible Chrono Guillaume Néry Edition?
It was important for the designer and I to work
together to create a link between this watch that
15 people will keep forever and the experience that they
will get with me. I really wanted a chronograph because
measuring time is so important in freediving – time is life.
And in terms of design, I really wanted the Submersible
case because it was truly made for underwater activity.
It’s robust and big, with good readability, but at the
same time, it’s very light because it’s titanium. So it was
the perfect match. The watch has a beautiful mix of
black, which represents strength, darkness and the
unknown, and a shade of blue-green that reminds me
of a lagoon, when the sun reflects off the water. I hope
this is something the watch owners will always remember
after their experience with me – a mix of the unknown and
the magic of the Pacific.