The Swiss watchmaker is sponsoring the epic Polar adventure to promote awareness about climate change.

Watch brands readily rely on some kind of a positive message to make a stronger connection to consumers. More often than not, that takes the form of either preserving the heritage of watchmaking, or looking to revolutionize some aspect of it. Both of which, of course, are meant to benefit the consumer.

But some brands actually walk the talk, and do their fair share to support a social cause as well. Rolex, for example, is notorious for its corporate social responsibility efforts.

Alpina, too, has gotten in on it, and is taking part in the walk, literally. The Swiss watchmaker is hoping to promote the protection of the glaciers, an environmental and climate issue that is dire but nevertheless gets little public attetion.

The project that Alpina is backing is called Ice Legacy a 10-year epic journey that traverses most of the world. The adventure is being taken on by Borge Ousland - the only man to have crossed the North and South poles alone - and his adventurer partner Vincent Colliard.

Their expedition started in 2014 after crossing the Spitsbergen Glacier in the Svalbard Archipelago, and by now the duo is in Alaska. During the expedition, they are also doing their part for science, by collecting samples of snow and ice that will be studied at the University of Anchorage to help scientists figure out our impacts on the ice fields.

The goal of the adventure is to help raise public awareness, get the attention of governments, and give a louder voice to scientists. The end game is to fight the disappearance of the already melting glaciers.

The watchmaker’s mission isn’t too far away from the message. It has always been to make luxury sport watches that can function without a hitch, even in the most demanding environments. As the brand name suggests, their watches are meant to take on the Alps, so it makes perfect sense that Alpina would attach itself to this good cause.