What Rohan Shrestha Learned When Time Stopped At Sea

There is something messianic about the way Rohan Shrestha speaks about the ocean. Entering the ocean at the age of 18 and witnessing the divine in an octopus. Having dolphins mimic his movements in the waters of Socorro, off the west coast of Mexico. Swimming into a school of hammerhead sharks on his 300th dive because "f**k it".

Despite these adventures, or maybe because of them, the ocean has now become a space that helps him return to himself - a meditation deep underwater. He’s famously introverted, but bring up the sea and he goes on for hours. No rambling - just genuine, unbridled joy. Like a child who’s woken up to go to school only to realise it’s a Sunday.

When Breitling, the Swiss watchmaker that pioneered the navigational tool watch, was looking to unveil its dynamic new Superocean Heritage campaign, it had only one name in mind. Which, honestly, came as a shock to Shrestha.

“I’m someone who had the opportunity to be an influencer for brands but chose not to because I’m like, no, I don’t want to show my face. I’m camera-shy. I’ve got this issue, I’ve got that issue. So I’m just like, why me? When I met Pradeep (Bhanot, Managing Director, Breitling) and Falguni (Vadiwala, Head of Marketing Communications and PR), they said, 'that’s exactly why - because you don’t care, because you actually are authentic.' They’re like, we don’t want you on board because you’re a photographer. We want you on board because you’re a scuba diver. And that was music to my ears," he shares.

Shrestha was first introduced to Breitling in the pages of a fashion magazine, where one of his former girlfriends used to work. "She used to do the ad layouts, and I used to look at these watches and think 'oh man, they look so cool and gadget-y'. I'm a tech geek, correct? I used to get attracted to the dials and the bezel, and the movement. I was a middle-class kid, and for me, owning a Breitling was a dream," he shares.

In the campaign video, Shrestha (styled by himself in a blue shirt by Krésha Bajaj, he proudly mentions) shares how, when he's underwater, "time slows down" and that there, in the vast blue, he is humbled by how small he is.

"Which is actually, honestly, the number one reason I dive. Everything else that comes along the way is a bonus," he says, after a pause. Perhaps considering what the sea allows him to do. If he sees a shark, that's obviously a plus. But when you start with something so brilliant, everything else is just a bonus. "I think that people who have dived before would resonate with what I’m saying because it is a kind of meditation," he adds.

What made this experience even more special for the photographer was the team he was shooting with - and of course, the beautiful location.

"We shot in Phuket and were hoping for good weather because it was raining every other day. As luck would have it, the day we were shooting, the sun was out in full force. The team I worked with was very close-knit. Shelly Sharma, the Director and On-Ground DP, was someone I was working with for the first time, but the two producers of the shoot - Karan and Naman Shah - are boys that I work with on a fairly regular basis because they work in the film industry with me. Zahaan (Adenwala) is someone I’ve been diving with for the last 15 years. I’ve also been diving with Anees (Zahaan’s father), who was also there as a safety blanket, an underwater director just telling us what to do, where to go, how to shoot the shot, and get the best light," he says.

In the campaign video, Shrestha is seen wearing the Superocean Heritage, which is no ordinary sea watch. When Breitling first launched it in 1957, it took a different tack from other dive watches of the era. The Ref. 1004 (a sleek time-only piece) and Ref. 807 (the world’s first dedicated dive chronograph) weren’t just about exploring the underwater world - they were about looking good doing it. The spear-and-arrow hands, anodised rotating bezel, and naturally sleek proportions made it a favourite of stylish adventurers who lived for the sea and the scene.

The shoot, as Shrestha describes it, was very old-school in the sense that there wasn't a large production house on board - just people wanting to work together and create something nice.

"Shikhar Manchanda, who is Anushka Manchanda’s younger brother, worked the sound. And I have to say, even he - everybody who worked on this with me - people just did it like, 'Oh, we’re doing it for Rohan because he’s our friend.' I have to be so grateful to all of them, because everybody put in that time and effort for me. Even the colourist and my friends in Dubai, Deja Vu Productions. And these are all stalwarts at what they do - award-winning colourists, editors, and sound designers - and they just chipped in, wanting to help me out. That’s what made this so special for me - the whole effort the people I worked with put in. Sure, it’s easy for me to be in front of that camera, looking good, wearing an expensive watch, and everything looks great, but the team behind it is everything. You have to be more grateful to them than to yourself," shares Shrestha.

In the video, Shrestha is wearing a distinct whale shark necklace. It's an interesting detail - he says he wore it for almost eight months to manifest seeing a real-life one. Last month, he returned to the Galápagos, a place he'd compared to Jurassic Park the last time we spoke on account of it being "nature in all its glory". There, at Darwin's Arch, he came across an Orca teaching her calves to hunt. "That was one of the most surreal experiences I've had as a diver. This is a very rare occurrence where an Orca comes up to you," he shared in an Instagram post.

Well, it pays to be one of the ocean's strongest messiahs.