Benedict Cumberbatch dives with Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new watch

Benedict Cumberbatch is not the kind of movie star to get carried away by fast cars, red carpets and screaming fans. The Brit, who enjoys a connection to Buddhism, prefers moments of quiet contemplation and is a fan of both scuba diving and meditation, pursuits that rely on quiet and stillness.

Cumberbatch was able to indulge in both pursuits during a shoot for Jaeger-LeCoultre in New Zealand. Shot on the beautiful Rakino Island off the coast of Auckland, the film captures Cumberbatch meditating on the deck of a house before plunging underwater wearing flippers, mask and a new Mariner Memovox diving watch from Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris collection.

For Cumberbatch, meditation and diving bring similar levels of peace to his mind. “I meditate a lot,” says the star of Doctor Strange and The Imitation Game. “That’s a huge tool in trying to calm myself, get away from the crazy circus of it all, have a focused mind.” He once went on a retreat in India for several days to calm his thoughts. “It was incredible, and I kind of floated out of there after two weeks.”

Cumberbatch explains that meditation brings a sense of “serenity, connection and being alive” and allows him to “reconnect with what’s really going on in your inner life. When you are in a still space, you distance yourself from the distracting traffic of life.”

The 42mm Memovox watch the actor wears in the short film is water-resistant to 300 metres and has a blue dial, against which the SuperLumiNova hands, indexes and numerals glow clearly. The hour and minute hands are different colours to help divers read the time, while the seconds hand is tipped in orange.

But the real plus of the Memovox comes with the alarm – pioneered by the brand in 1959 – that reminds divers when to return to the surface. The watch’s transparent case back enables the wearer to watch the hammer strike as it makes its distinctive school bell alarm, a sound that brings Cumberbatch back to the real world.