This is the fourth part of my hands-on report from Basel, showing the new Blancpain Villeret timepieces.
There have been three new Villeret watches this year, all in a 40mm case, all available in either stainless steel or rose gold, all of them on either strap or a perfectly crafted Milanaise bracelet, which is entirely manufactured inhouse and assembled by hand requiring a lot of precision in order to support the slight tapering of the bracelet. And obviously all three models feature the patented under-lug correctors.
Let us start with what some of you have instantly called a winner, the new Villeret Quantieme Perpetuel in stainless steel.
It’s been a while that Blancpain had offered a perpetual calendar in a steel case, the last one (to my knowledge) had been the Leman Flyback Perpetual Calendar, which was discontinued a few years ago.
The new PC does not go for any design experiments, you’ll find the classic Villeret optics, a beautiful white dial and heat blued hands for the calendar indications.
Here are a few pictures I took to share with you:
The second novelty is the Villeret Grande Date Jour Rétrograde. For the first time Blancpain offers a big date that is located in a decentralized position on the dial, offering space for a retrograde day indication, which again features a heat blued hand. I was very impressed with this watch, especially in the rose gold version, so most photos are taken of that one.
I must admit that I was not allocating a lot of time to the third watch, which was introduced a few weeks prior to Basel, the Villeret Quantieme Complet GMT. It is a beautiful timepiece without a doubt, it however did not capture my attention in the same way the other novelties did. Therefore I can show only one photo, I hope this does not disappoint you too much.
Well, dear TZ Blancpain forumers, that was it with the novelties, at least when it comes to this initial report. I hope you enjoyed the photos, part five with impressions from the Blancpain booth will follow very soon, together with my personal conclusions from what I had the pleasure to see with Blancpain in Basel.
Cheers
Henrik
For further information on the timepieces please visit blancpain.com