Citizen has departed on the first global campaign in the watchmaker’s 84 year history as it commissioned a pilot and photographer to chase the sunset around the globe.
Chasing Horizons saw photographer Simon Roberts and ex-NATO pilot Jonathan Nicol challenged to live the same hour for as long as possible by flying against the earth’s rotation and travelling to a new time zone each hour. The effort saw the pair exposed to a sunset lasting an entire evening although the time never once changed.
Roberts explained: “As a photographic artist I never thought I would make a series of photos about sunsets, but here was an idea that literally took the concept to the edge of what’s possible. By chasing the sun around the earth, existing in a perpetual twilight hour, we were pushing technical and physical boundaries. It was simultaneously exhilarating and challenging.”
The flight took off from Reykjavik in late February this year and filmed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tristan Patterson with elements to be used across print, digital and television.
The campaign was created by advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo and Amsterdam, which was also responsible for Citizen’s new global statement, Better Starts Now.
The aim is to illustrate the capabilities of Citizen’s flagship Eco-Drive Satellite Wave F100 model, which adjusts to new time zones locations using satellite signals in as little as three seconds.
The next stage of Citizen’s global Better Starts Now campaign will see the brand’s first monobrand store in North America open next month, on New York City’s Time Square.
