We are going to take this unique watch underwater where it belongs, but first, let’s dig into the specs. The result is the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms X Fathoms, an absolute beast of a mechanical, state-of-the-art, diving instrument. Blancpain asked themselves what a diver requires and tried to create a mechanical device that would meet as many of those needs as possible. They wanted to create a tool that would be as useful to the modern diver as the Fifty Fathoms was when it was released almost 60 years prior. The modern Fifty Fathoms line includes 3-hand and chronograph models, inspired by the toolish nature of the early Blancpain dive watches, as well as moon-phase models, and even a tourbillon, a nod to Blancpain’s later foray into complicated watches.īy 2011, Hayek and Blancpain decided it was time for something new time for Blancpain to again make a forward-thinking and revolutionary step. The vintage-inspired Blancpain Tribute to Fifty Fathoms No Rad And just like that, the Fifty Fathoms was reborn. This watch brought back the original’s clear bezel, this time in sapphire, and a domed crystal to truly embody the spirit of that first Fifty Fathoms watch from 50 years earlier. While that watch was a Fifty Fathoms in name, it wasn’t until 2003, after Blancpain had been sold back to SMH (the Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries, which would later become the Swatch Group) and Marc Hayek was brought on board to steer the ship, that we would see the true resurgence of the Fifty Fathoms DNA, with the 50th-anniversary limited edition. A modern version of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Naturally, the sea reference had to be called Fifty Fathoms. During this time, the Fifty Fathoms name lay dormant, until finally seeing the light again in 1999 as part of a trilogy of watches released by Blancpain, inspired by land, sea and air. With the sale of the company to Jacques Piguet in the early 1980s, Blancpain would shift its focus to dress and complication watches for the next 20 years. An original Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, circa 1953Īs times and trends tend to change, Blancpain would eventually stop producing dive watches. Eventually adopted by military diving units around the world, the Fifty Fathoms was an essential piece of diving kit. This work would lead to the Fifty Fathoms, one of the most iconic and successful diving watches of all time. There were no commercially available scuba diving watches at the time so Fiechter and Blancpain set to work, coming up with a design basically from scratch. Mr Fiechter was an avid participant in the emerging sport of scuba diving, and this is where the Blancpain scuba connection began.Ībove: vintage advertising – Captain Robert “Bob” Maloubier – Blancpain Co-CEO Jean-Jacques FiechterĪfter one harrowing experience of losing track of time and nearly running out of air on a dive, Fiechter knew that he needed a watch that would work underwater. Fiechter would co-manage the company with her nephew Jean-Jacques Fiechter for the next 20 years. Upon the death of Frederic-Emile Blancpain in 1932, as he had no heirs interested in the watch business, the company was left to his long-time assistant, Betty Fiechter, making her the first female CEO of a leading watchmaking company. The company would remain in the Blancpain family for the next seven generations, becoming the largest watch manufacturer in Villeret. And to see if Blancpain can still hold its own in the world of dive watches, we go diving with the all-mighty Blancpain Fifty Fathoms X Fathoms.īlancpain was founded in 1735 when Jehan-Jacques Blancpain registered himself as a watchmaker in the village records in Villeret, a small Swiss village in the picturesque Jura Mountains. Their name belongs right up there with the likes of Rolex and Omega and Panerai when discussing the inception of the dive watch as we know and love it today. As one of the earliest creators of the purpose-built tool watch, they are responsible for multiple innovations in the field, including using an o-ring to seal the case back, and a pioneering crown seal system. It’s impossible to talk about the modern scuba diving watch and its evolution without talking about Blancpain.
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