A blog entirely dedicated to Blancpain timepieces
A significant part of Blancpain‘s collection are and have been sublime timepieces for women. Since the 1930s the Manufacture has put a lot of emphasis on not only crafting beautiful women’s watches but actually focused on innovation when it comes to those often very small and therefore challenging timepieces.
Continue reading “The Ladybird: combining heritage, fine watchmaking and Haute Joaillerie” →
Building on the brand’s unrivaled heritage as a manufacturer of professional diving watches, Blancpain CEO Marc A. Hayek has initiated a remarkable initiative to support the preservation of the underwater world, called Blancpain Ocean Commitment. Since 2014 the Manufacture has released dedicated limited edition timepieces on a biannual basis, which shall be featured in this report.
Continue reading “The Blancpain Ocean Commitment timepieces (so far)” →
Blancpain was the first watch brand to support the Monaco Association against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (AMM), this support dates back to 2001. Since 2005 the bi-annual Only Watch charity auctions have become a remarkable horological event, and this year, the Manufacture is again presenting a one-of-a-kind model for the 8th Only Watch charity auction to be held in Geneva at 2.30 pm on November 9, 2019. Let’s take a look at this year’s unique piece and all it’s predecessors.
Continue reading “Blancpain for Only Watch: the unique pieces since 2005” →
The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Barakuda was received enthusiastically when introduced earlier this year on May 17th. Now that delivery through the Blancpain Boutiques has started, let’s take a closer look at this beautiful timepiece.
Continue reading “Hands-on with the Fifty Fathoms Barakuda” →
This time we explore two very different timepieces with an often underrated complication, the annual calendar. Let’s get up close with the Villeret Quantieme Annuel GMT and the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantieme Annuel.
Continue reading “Two interpretations of the Annual Calendar” →
Introduced in 2007, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique reference 5015 was introduced and it has seen quite a variety of interpretations over the years, with three new alternatives being introduced this year. Let’s take a look at all of them, but start with a close look at the 2007 watch and all its virtues.
Continue reading “The variety of the Fifty Fathoms Automatique 5015” →
Let’s take a look at a timepiece that is not necessarily in the center of the Fifty Fathoms collection, but highly appreciated by owners who actually take the watch by its purpose and therefore frequently for a dive… the 500 Fathoms, ref 50015.
Continue reading “Impressions of the Blancpain 500 Fathoms” →
Earlier today a limited to 100 pieces special edition of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe for Hodinkee was introduced. Let’s take a look at this piece and let me share my initial thoughts about it.
Continue reading “The Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe for Hodinkee” →
I met KISS drummer and passionate watch collector Eric Singer* in Berlin on June 4, 2019 prior to his concert at the Waldbuehne and we had an hour long conversation, so you need to have some time reading through this. We were joined by an old friend of Eric and a representative of Blancpain who brought the prototypes of the new Air Command and Barakuda for Eric to see them. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
With the new millennium Blancpain decided to give their sporty yet elegant timepieces a new name: from now on they were called Leman series. And this change came along with a remarkable makeover of the collection, offering a broad variety of 40mm timepieces.
We got used to more visually transparent timepieces over the past two decades, but rarely in such an ornate way like with the Villeret Squelete 8 Jours, reference 6633, belonging to the Metiérs d’Art collection of the Manufacture.
Continue reading “An artistic time machine… the Villeret Squelete 8 Jours” →
Let me try to provide a comprehensive overview on what has been undoubtedly one of the most important watch families made by Blancpain, the Leman series. The overview is split in three parts, we start with the first collection introduced in the mid 1990s under the name 2100 and characterized by a variety of 38mm timepieces.
Now that the dust has settled and I was able to digest what I have seen during my photo session with the Blancpain novelties and encountered in the first days after the launch on May 17 with writing my reports and following worldwide online coverage, it’s time to share my personal conclusions on the Blancpain Time to Move presentation.
This novelty was already announced at the end of 2018, but first shown to retailers and the press during the two Time to Move events: the Fifty Fathoms executed in brushed titanium, ref 5015-12B30.
Continue reading “A closer look at the Fifty Fathoms titanium” →
This one left a very strong impression with me from my photo session: the Fifty Fathoms 5015 executed in brushed red gold with a blue ceramic dial, ref 5015-3603C-63B. This is an utterly beautiful timepiece in an unusual combination of colors.
