The Tudor Pelagos is a name highly evocative. “Pelgaos” itself comes from Greek and with its namesake connotes “living in the open sea”. Hence, armed with a Tudor Pelagos, the world’s pre-eminent diving watch, David Beckham was invited to step out of his comfort zone and experience his first free dive in open water.

Indeed, the Tudor Pelagos is worthy of its namesake thanks to its technical features, reflecting the vision of Hans Wilsdorf, its founder, whose ambition was to make timepieces capable of withstanding the most extreme conditions.

Dare to Dive: David Beckham experiences Free Diving with Tudor Pelagos

Tudor’s recent leitmotif #BornToDare is a testament to that original vision, here, the brand has confronted David Beckham with a primal challenge and dare to dive. Free diving is not easy. As this author can attest, free diving requires you to ignore every instinct for self preservation as you enter the icy depths and by mammalian reflex, your body automatically tries to draw rapid breaths and your heart rate increases.

“These are the moments when you are born to dare. It is about putting yourself in situations where you face challenge, which I like. Most of the time these situations bring out the best in me” – David Beckham on Free Diving with Tudor Pelagos

Beckham, athlete, star and entrepreneur, stepped out of the relative comfort of post-soccer retirement and a life of celebrity, to begin training on land in full diving gear and learning about breathing techniques under the guidance of French World Champion Free Diver Morgan Bourc’his.

Bourc’his was part of the French national team, becoming World Champion in Egypt in 2008. But it was in September 2013 that he achieved his apex moment: becoming the World Champion for Constant Weight Without Fins with -87M where he later broke the French record with -89M. By 2017, he had made further gains on his record with an amazing depth of  -90M.

#BornToDare is a testimony to Tudor’s pioneering and cutting edge approach to watchmaking, but it can be argued that it is truly in the brand’s ambassadors who dare to challenge the status quo which truly highlights the brand’s values: Lady Gaga, daring to be an actress, Beckham, daring to free dive; presenting a human face to the cold technical accomplishments of superlative engineering like the Tudor Pelagos.

The Tudor Pelagos, a Diving Watch People Really Bring Underwater

Throughout the whole adventure, Beckham and Bourc’his are wearing Tudor Pelagos diving watches. This model’s impressive list of technical features includes being waterproof to 500 meters (with each watch being factory-tested to 625 meters), titanium case and bracelet (40% lighter than stainless steel), patented auto-adjusting clasp, TUDOR Manufacture Calibre with 70-hour power reserve and COSC-certification, helium escape valve and fully luminescent display.