Blancpain x Jade Hoksbergen

The Core Details

• Jade Hoksbergen is an underwater photographer, painter, and visual artist who grew up in the Philippines and is based in southwest England.
• She is an official Blancpain Friend of the Brand, wearing the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms as her chosen companion on every dive.
• Her work centres on ocean conservation, using photography to encourage audiences to care for the sea.
• Hoksbergen highlights the importance of women’s perspectives in storytelling and conservation, drawing on distinct life experiences.
• The campaign is part of Blancpain’s broader ocean commitment, reflected in the Blancpain #BlancpainOceanCommitment initiative.

A Visual Artist and the Ocean

Jade Hoksbergen’s relationship with the sea is both personal and professional. Raised in the Philippines, she developed an early intimacy with marine environments that has since shaped every aspect of her practice — from her underwater photography to her work as a painter and visual artist. She has lived in the southwest of England for around ten years, and the Atlantic coastline there forms a constant backdrop to her creative life.

Photography, for Hoksbergen, is driven by instinct. She describes knowing when an image is truly worth keeping as a physical sensation, a feeling that confirms the moment has been captured honestly. That discipline extends to her subject matter: the ocean, in her view, gives generously, and that generosity demands a considered response from those who benefit from it. Her images are constructed not merely to document marine life but to prompt a sense of responsibility in the viewer.

This tension between beauty and urgency runs through her entire body of work. By turning fleeting, difficult-to-reach moments beneath the surface into accessible visual stories, she asks audiences to reconsider how they relate to the natural world. It is a form of advocacy delivered through aesthetics rather than argument, and it has drawn the attention of brands whose values align with that position.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms: A Companion Below the Surface

Hoksbergen’s choice of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms as her diving watch is grounded in professional logic as much as personal preference. When working underwater, she has noted that selecting the right companion is among the most consequential decisions a diver makes. The Fifty Fathoms, Blancpain’s historic dive watch, is the piece she has settled on for that role, accompanying her on every dive.

Her appreciation for the watch comes from a wider interest in attention to detail and things made with genuine care. Hoksbergen articulates that the same precision she looks for in her own images — the specificity that distinguishes a meaningful photograph from a routine one — is something she recognises in the Fifty Fathoms. For her, the watch is legible evidence of a maker that takes its commitments seriously, both in the object itself and in the projects and people it chooses to support.

For collectors in the Gulf region, where the Fifty Fathoms has a dedicated following among serious watch collectors in Dubai, Riyadh, and Doha, the association with Hoksbergen’s conservation-led practice adds a layer of context to the watch’s long-standing identity as a professional diving instrument. The partnership makes the case that a watch built for extreme underwater conditions can also carry a meaningful cultural and environmental narrative.

Women, Perspective, and Conservation Storytelling

A recurring theme in Hoksbergen’s work, and in her conversation with Blancpain, is the distinct value of women’s voices within conservation and visual storytelling. She argues that different life experiences produce different ways of seeing, and that the perspectives women bring to the ocean’s story are not interchangeable with any other. This is not an abstract position for her; it informs how she approaches a dive, how she frames a subject, and how she thinks about who her images are ultimately for.

Blancpain’s decision to feature Hoksbergen as a Friend of the Brand reflects a deliberate interest in supporting practitioners who combine technical expertise with an environmental point of view. Beyond the dial, the brand has used its platform to back conservation projects and individuals whose work keeps the ocean’s fragility visible. Hoksbergen fits squarely within that framework, and the campaign film makes that alignment explicit without reducing her practice to a brand message.

For those who follow Blancpain’s wider catalogue — including pieces such as the Ladybird Colors range, which represents a different but equally considered dimension of the brand’s output — the Hoksbergen partnership reinforces that the company’s interests extend well beyond conventional watch marketing. You can watch the official Blancpain x Jade Hoksbergen campaign film to hear her speak about her practice in her own words.

Why It Matters

For watch collectors across the GCC, where environmental awareness and cultural storytelling are increasingly part of how luxury is evaluated, the Blancpain and Jade Hoksbergen collaboration offers a considered perspective on what a watch brand can stand for beyond its movements and cases. The Fifty Fathoms has always carried a serious diving pedigree, and Hoksbergen’s work gives that pedigree a contemporary and purposeful dimension. This is a partnership worth following for anyone interested in where horology and conservation culture intersect.

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