(NEW YORK) A mere 208 seconds is all you need to compose a tweet, apply eye makeup, or order dinner on Seamless. For Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, 208 seconds is the amount of time it took him to save 155 lives when he maneuvered an emergency landing of Flight 1549 on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the pilot’s quick thinking and valiant actions, JeanRichard, the iconic Swiss watchmaker, toasted their current brand ambassador with a cocktail party. “We immediately thought that for America, Sully would be the perfect ambassador because he represents our values: living life to the fullest, living passion to the extreme and doing it all the right way,” COO, Bruno Grande explained.
Amidst the many, many watches in the Tourneau TimeMachine building, the timepiece of the evening was the JeanRichard “208 Seconds” Aeroscope Watch, created with a few touches from Sully himself. “I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of time,” he explained. “For a pilot, time is a finite resource; you have to manage it and use it efficiently.”
The design is a sleek, modernized take on classic aviation timepieces, featuring a leather wrist strap and a titanium case that contains all of the watch’s functions. The watch face illustrates the timeframe of the ‘Miracle on the Hudson,’ with three white circles representing each minute, and one red arc to represent the final moments of the landing. Only 208 editions of the watch will be sold, and part of the proceeds will go to Sully’s charities of choice; the Red Cross and The Rory Staunton Foundation.
While Sully has retired from flying full time, he still gets to sit in the pilot’s seat of private jets from time to time. Turns out, there is one frontier Sully has yet to master: “If there were a possibility to go to space, I would be excited to go,” he admitted. “Maybe the invitation is still in the mail.”
