Discover the Historical past of Dive Watches with Blancpain

A one-sentence abstract will get us began right here. In 1953, Swiss watchmaker Blancpain launched the world’s first dive watch; the world of watches would by no means be the identical once more. Arguably the preferred kind of conventional mechanical wristwatch, the dive watch is a agency favorite amongst collectors and informal consumers alike. Just about all the main gamers have one, with the notable exception of haute horlogerie stalwarts Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. Even Audemars Piguet bowed to collector strain and launched the Offshore Diver some years again, although that watch is hardly a deeply necessary a part of the assortment. Bucking this pattern decisively is Blancpain, which was far more well-known for its haute horlogerie items for many of its historical past, as you may see by taking a look at its collections, however we’ll get to that in a bit.

Given the peculiar relationship the dive watch has to diving right now — principally it’s not a necessity — this impression solely grows extra highly effective. As a species, we seem to need a image of our world’s oceans and seas near us always; we’re principally product of water anyway. If aliens determined to introduce themselves, they could deliver us a present of water from their residence world as a greeting! To be clear, that is solely an impression as nobody actually is aware of in regards to the true enchantment of the dive watch, or the explanations manufacturers introduce dive watches, which brings us to a different necessary level.

What proof do we have now to supply on the recognition of dive watches anyway? Is it the largest vendor amongst all watch manufacturers, throughout the board, Swiss or in any other case? Does this clarify why we have now devoted at the very least one cowl a yr to the dive watch since at the very least 2016? Sadly, not one of the studies we consulted for our Spring 2023 challenge, from Morgan Stanley and Deloitte’s to the Swiss Federation of Watchmaking (FH) and Europastar, had any knowledge on the abiding recognition of the look ahead to divers. It’s because the watch commerce doesn’t do breakdowns on this method, folding dive watches into three-handlers, at finest; some studies focus on the recognition of the sports activities watch, which clearly consists of the dive watch. However, altering the definition this manner additionally tends to attract in different kinds of hardy device watches, in addition to numerous issues and all method of smartwatches.

Whereas that is clearly not nice for basic info, these kinds of watches are essentially the most plentiful on the planet, since in addition they embrace the hardest tickers. Dive watches might need been the primary purpose-built watches for a selected sporting exercise, making the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms the primary device look ahead to sports activities. Navigation, aviation and driving watches all arrived earlier than the dive watch, however all of those have been eclipsed by the timekeeper of the deep. Even the arrival of low cost quartz watches couldn’t make the sports activities watch come up for air, so to talk. As for the smartwatch, most fashions and makes have solely just lately gotten water-resistance proper, because of all of the detector features.

Now, if you’re a long-time reader of World of Watches, you’ll in all probability be sighing to your self, and questioning simply why we’re so obsessive about dive watches. A part of the reply lies within the story of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, and that leads us immediately into our common historical past lesson. So far as different key fashions go although, we can be addressing these extra totally later on this story, and later within the yr. The historic part additionally covers the salient traits of the Fifty Fathoms as they stand right now, and features a sidebar on Blancpain’s conservation work.

We notice on the outset, for transparency, that we’re as soon as once more indebted to the superb work of Jeffrey Kingston, the long-time editor of Lettres du Brassus, the Blancpain journal, for a lot of the small print that went into this story.

Deep Dive

In some ways, Blancpain is a little bit of a stunning celebrity in diving. Based in 1735 in Villeret, Switzerland, the manufacture had been largely centered on issues and fantastically completed watches for many of its storied previous. This was bolstered by one other a part of the DNA of the modern Blancpain model, that of Louis Élisée Piguet, that is still famed to this present day for its sophisticated actions. This stands in direct distinction with watchmakers who acquired off the blocks within the twentieth century, for instance, the place a sure diploma of utilitarianism was to be anticipated.

Blancpain, which had confirmed to be resilient to each disaster identified to man because the 18th century, was an adaptable agency. It even survived its personal founding household’s resolution to go away the enterprise, discovering a prepared purchaser for the Blancpain watchmaking concern within the devoted worker, Betty Fiechter, in 1932; the Piguet household’s involvement remained some methods away however that’s one other story. Certainly, Betty Fiechter’s story is an enchanting one, however for the story of the Fifty Fathoms, issues start correctly together with her nephew, Jean-Jacques Fiechter. It needs to be famous although that Jean-Jacques was solely capable of interact in his diving ardour due to the house Betty Fiechter owned on the Riviera. It was a location that may play a central function within the genesis of the Fifty Fathoms watch.

Jean-Jacques turned the CEO of Blancpain in 1950, and he had fairly the yen for diving. In these days, leisure diving was not but the power it’s right now, with the SCUBA equipment solely having been pioneered by Jacques Yves Cousteau in 1943. It was additionally a harmful and unpredictable exercise since divers on the time didn’t have the correct gear, together with the correct type of dive watch. Jean-Jacques realized this the laborious approach on a dive at Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. Some 50 metres under the waves (a considerably unbelievable depth, however that’s what the document reveals), he found that he had run out of air. Not solely did Jean-Jacques not panic, he had the presence of thoughts to contemplate timing his emergency ascent, besides he didn’t have a watch to take action after all! He later noticed that “ardour makes one neglect the time,” when wanting again on his near-fatal accident.

Fortunately, Jean-Jacques had one other ardour in addition to diving: making watches. He quickly set about discovering an answer to the issue that just about killed him as a result of he realised {that a} exact, dependable and difficult watch was the important thing. With the sources of a manufacture at his disposal, Jean-Jacques might develop precisely the type of watch that was wanted. This story is exactly what makes the Fifty Fathoms so particular and distinctive within the improvement of the dive watch.

With the correct inspiration, Jean-Jacques mirrored on his accident and realised two issues: a diver wanted to maintain monitor of time throughout a dive, and in addition wanted to account for time to decompress earlier than surfacing. In different phrases, it was not sufficient to understand how a lot air you had left, you additionally wanted to understand how a lot time you might spend, in whole, relying in your SCUBA gear. Jean-Jacques started designing a watch that may do all that was required; he wanted a ticker that may hold you ticking, to place it one other approach. From the beginning, he knew it must be a easy and difficult timepiece, as a result of chronographs weren’t water resistant in any respect at the moment (for these of you who surprise why this resolution didn’t happen to Jean-Jacques or the esteemed watchmakers at Blancpain).

Making a easy timepiece from scratch is not any simple feat, significantly when that timepiece additionally needed to be a lifesaving instrument for divers. Jean-Jacques needed to invent what we take without any consideration right now, codified inside the strictures of ISO 6425. Take, for instance, the difficulty of water-resistance, which was just about resolved by the Fifties…besides it was not. There have been weak factors in any watch, that are the identical right now, the place water may penetrate the case: the crown and the caseback. For the crown, Jean-Jacques got here up with the double-sealed system. The crown could possibly be completely secure, if it was not pulled out. If one forgets to push or screw the crown again in after adjusting the watch, then jumps off a ship into the water, then that’s one watch that simply drowned.

Jean-Jacques resolution meant that there was all the time a second seal conserving the worst from taking place. Blancpain acquired a patent for that. For the caseback, there was already an ‘O’ ring gasket conserving the skin, effectively, outdoors, but it surely often acquired twisted when the caseback was screwed on. Jean-Jacques acquired round this by inserting the ‘O’ ring in a channel with its personal metallic ring to carry it in place. Blancpain acquired a patent for this too. Lastly, to resolve the difficulty of divers forgetting how lengthy they had been underwater, Jean-Jacques developed a turning bezel with a marker that could possibly be used to point begin occasions for dives (by aligning the bezel with the minute hand, to be clear). That works effectively sufficient, however ought to the bezel be disturbed, the sport is up. Jean-Jacques got here up with a locking mechanism that saved the bezel from shifting. Blancpain acquired a patent for that too.

Past this, Jean-Jacques knew that the wristwatches of his time had been just too small to be used underwater, the place legibility is vital. He labored on bigger case sizes together with his aunt Fiechter’s neighbour, who occurred to be a casemaker; Jean-Jacques shared the identical residence as his aunt, who lived upstairs whereas he lived on the primary flooring.

On the identical theme of legibility, Jean-Jacques selected a color scheme of white towards black, and luminous palms, for visibility at midnight, which was really not new at the moment. Equally, for the motion, Jean-Jacques knew it needed to be automated, to cut back the danger of wear and tear and tear on the crown. The ultimate bit got here all the way down to resisting magnetism, however this wants to attend, as a result of whereas Jean-Jacques was firming up his imaginative and prescient, the second foundational a part of the dive watch story was taking form.

The French navy was on the lookout for a dive watch, and the 2 males accountable for this had been Captain Robert ‘Bob’ Maloubier and Claude Riffaud, each veterans of World Struggle II. They had been those who noticed the necessity for a fight diving power, and the French navy left it to them to discovered what would develop into the French Forces Elite Diving Corp. When it got here to the timing devices, the late Maloubier preferred to inform a narrative of assembly a French watch govt from Besancon, and being furnished with small watches that had been touted as “marvels” of water-resistance; these all drowned. Somewhat than being discouraged although, Maloubier and Riffaud drew up sketches of what they thought a dive watch needs to be: waterproof, self-winding, anti-magnetic, and a dial that could possibly be simply learn both in murky water or at evening. They discovered no takers on their daring designs although, with one watch govt telling them that “there isn’t a future in diving watches.”

Clearly, Maloubier and Riffaud discovered their approach to Jean-Jacques and Blancpain. Right here is how Maloubier described the assembly: “Lastly there was this small enterprise, Blancpain, that agreed to produce a watch that we imagined with a black dial, massive numbers, clear indexes within the type of triangles, circles and squares, in addition to a rotating exterior bezel with markings matching the dial. We had hoped to have the ability to start a dive and place the bezel in order to have the ability to learn the time utilizing the massive minute hand. We wished every of the markers to be as distinguished as a pole star for a shepherd.” All events wished the identical factor, apart from the anti-magnetic requirement, which Blancpain solved with the introduction of the gentle iron interior case to guard the motion from magnetic fields.

Right here we race forward a bit, as a result of the following parts lead us to the current and presumably way forward for the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms watch. One yr after the launch of the watch, in 1954, famed diver and marine biologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau chosen the Fifty Fathoms mannequin for his dive staff, whose filmed dives turned the premise of the Academy Award-winning movie, “The Silent World” in 1957. Thus, the skilled, leisure and conservationist traits of the Fifty Fathoms got here collectively in just some years. By way of the world’s armed forces, the Fifty Fathoms rapidly turned the go-to possibility for the Israelis, West Germans, Danish, Norwegians, Swedish, Pakistanis and, most famously, the Individuals, with the Navy SEALs.

The modern Fifty Fathoms that celebrates its seventieth anniversary this yr is not a device watch utilized by the world’s navies, but it surely stays very a lot part of the legend of the dive watch. It’s also nonetheless part of the conservation world, with Blancpain’s initiative known as Ocean Dedication having raised each consciousness of the necessity to defend the world’s oceans, in addition to having an actual impression in rising the share of protected areas of the oceans by greater than 20 per cent.

For the celebrations this yr, you may see for your self how Blancpain is leaning into this ocean conservation future in its promoting visible within the challenge. It’s also a really actual a part of the modern assortment, being mirrored in at the very least one of many seventieth anniversary editions. However first, a tribute to the very first Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, and a very new technical watch.

Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa

If the conservation angle is considerably hidden in Act 1, it takes centre stage right here, provided that the identify of the watch is the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa, which is the seventieth Anniversary Restricted Version Act 2. Chances are you’ll recall that Gombessa right here is derived from Gombessa Expeditions, the initiative headed by marine biologist, photographer and diver Laurent Ballesta, and supported by Blancpain as a founding accomplice. The identify will not be there simply to suggest an necessary trigger — the Tech Gombessa was collectively developed by Blancpain and Ballesta. The Tech a part of the identify can also be pivotal, as a result of it refers back to the count-up bezel with three-hour show, which is completely new in a dive watch (or certainly any watch).

Not like the Fifty Fathoms X Fathoms, the Tech Gombessa will not be mind-bogglingly sophisticated. It’s reasonably easy by means of comparability, however that isn’t the purpose. The unique Fifty Fathoms was a watch designed to fulfill the wants of divers, and the Tech Gombessa follows the identical narrative, besides right here, the heroes are Blancpain CEO Marc Hayek, himself an completed diver, and Ballesta. Ballesta wished a watch that would serve him on closed-circuit rebreather diving excursions, and that’s exactly what he acquired.

Now we shouldn’t have the area to get into what precisely CCR diving is, however suffice to say, the equipment permits one to rebreathe the air one exhales. This implies one can keep underwater longer, which is essential for Ballesta’s work. How for much longer? Nicely, there may be the place these three hours come into play. To make all this work, the Tech Gombessa contains a helium escape valve (you already know the place it’s), on the lookout for all of the world like a second crown, and a brand new motion, the automated calibre 13P8, alongside the unidirectional bezel with three-hour scale. What seems like a GMT hand on the dial is in truth a hand that makes one circuit in three hours. It’s meant to work in tandem with the 120-click bezel, about which we’ll say extra after we focus on the case under.

You can not actually inform from wanting on the watch right here, with none reference or context, however it is a huge boy, and it’s considerably completely different to the vanilla reference 5015. The case is 47mm and 14.81mm thick, making it the largest Fifty Fathoms reference because the X Fathoms. Blancpain has made the watch simpler to put on although, with a case in grade 23 titanium and a lugless design. Sure, meaning the black rubber strap (with extension) is totally built-in. The bezel has little bit of overhang, making it simpler to know, and the insert is executed in black ceramic reasonably than sapphire crystal, and slopes inward barely. As a watch that’s meant to be worn over a moist go well with, the width and thickness are totally high-quality, however you will have to contemplate the way it sits in your wrist. Fortunately, you’ll have loads of time to determine as a result of the Tech Gombessa will not be a restricted version — it joins the common Fifty Fathoms assortment. Evidently, if CCR diving is your factor, that is simply the correct look ahead to you.

Lastly, the dial is in a brand new shade of black known as “absolute,” which apparently absorbs 97% of sunshine that hits it. This has the impact of creating the orange luminescent markers, which glow blue, actually pop, as they are saying. The bezel markings and the three-hour hand glow inexperienced, by means of distinction.

Fifty Fathoms seventieth Anniversary Restricted Version Act 1

For the seventieth anniversary of the Fifty Fathoms watch, Blancpain is pulling out all of the stops, with a three-act plan, actually. Act 1 is a now-sold-out smaller model of the Fifty Fathoms, hewing intently to the unique dimensions of the watch. We congratulate you for those who managed to get one of many 70 items of Fifty Fathoms seventieth Anniversary Restricted Version Act 1, to make use of its full identify. To be clear, the 70 watches we’re particularly referring to are those meant for the Asia-Pacific; there are two extra restricted editions of the identical mannequin in the identical collection, one for Europe, the Center East and Africa, and one for the Americas. Nonetheless, 210 items appears however a drop within the ocean, contemplating that Act 1 is essentially the most simply wearable Fifty Fathoms in years, clocking in at 42.3mm.

This isn’t a reissue although, by any means, as a result of Act 1 retains some traits from the modern common manufacturing mannequin, together with the engraved Blancpain emblem on the left facet of the case. It additionally nods in the direction of the reintroduction of the Fifty Fathoms in 2003 with the stainless-steel bezel with domed sapphire crystal inlay over luminous markings and a lozenge at 12 o’clock. The crown guards are additionally a characteristic launched within the 2003 version, and you’ll recognise different salient options from this seminal version that introduced the Fifty Fathoms into the twenty first century. Water-resistance is, after all, 300 metres.

The dial is black, with brushed sunray ending, so-called classic palms (an evolution of the sword palms on the unique), three-dimensional markers and Arabic numerals with cream-coloured SuperLuminova (the palms additionally sport the identical luminous materials). Relating to the textual content on the dial, that is the place you’ll discover your self a fan, or not. There are seven strains of textual content, together with the JB 1735 emblem, and the particular seventieth Anniversary phrases, with the collection of the watch (I, II or III relying on area, as talked about above) ending issues off. Nicely, you may depend the Swiss Made indication too, at 6 o’clock under and flanking the numeral. Just like the modern Fifty Fathoms, the date window is between 4 and 5 o’clock (the so-called 4:30 place).

For the motion, that is additionally totally modern, with the automated calibre 1315 operating the present, and exhibiting off its three-barrel structure through the sapphire exhibition window (itself a wholly modern contact). Calibre 1315 powers the present Fifty Fathoms reference 5015, so followers of the model can anticipate no surprises there. In fact, the calibre does mark itself as one thing particular, contemplating that the oscillating weight is in platinum, with “Fifty Fathoms seventieth” engraved on it (platine can also be fortunately engraved there). No particular ending has been utilized right here, which is acceptable contemplating that that is nonetheless very a lot a device watch. One may go additional right here and say that the usual ending on calibre 1315 is already distinctive for what it’s, and beats most different dive watches on the market.

Ending issues off right here is a wholly modern contact that’s in-line with modern considerations: the strap is of the black NATO selection, with pin buckle, however it’s constituted of recycled fishing nets recovered from the ocean. Contemplating the robust conservation message that Blancpain adopts and advocates, that is totally acceptable.

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