In a rush of thrilling new releases, Blancpain has expanded the Fifty Fathoms vary even additional. This one, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Naguers De Fight Watch, is predicated closely on the earliest fashions on this assortment relationship from 1953. Right here we’ve a really pared again imagining of the Fifty Fathoms design DNA. The stainless-steel case measures 45mm with a properly embellished closed caseback, exhibiting an anchor that has been mounted by two kissing seahorses with wings. As a result of why not? Who doesn’t like watching winged seahorses kiss?
Specs
Model: Blancpain
Mannequin: Fifty Fathoms Nageurs De Fight Watch
Dimensions: 45mm × 15.7mm
Water Resistance: 300 meters
Case Materials: Stainless-steel
Crystal/Lens: Sapphire Crystal
Motion: Caliber 1315
Energy Reserve: 120 hours
Strap/Bracelet: 23mm leather-backed textile
Worth & Availability: Restricted to 300 items
However I jest. The seahorses aren’t really smooching. (I imagine they’re simply colleagues.) They’re, in truth, a part of a really particular emblem that Blancpain needed to get hold of permission from the French navy to make use of. The caseback picture is, in truth, the Fight Diver Qualification Badge awarded to divers after they move their coaching. The anchor represents the sailors, and the winged seahorses signify the underwater world and parachutists.
It’s a becoming homage for a watch that was one of many very first correct dive watches on the earth. And for that, we’ve Blancpain’s former chief Jean-Jaques Fiechter to thank. When he took over the reins of the corporate in 1950, he set about creating the proper diving companion for himself (as he was a eager submariner). Utilizing his private data, he began drawing up the specs that each one dive watches ought to meet: luminous fingers and hour markers set towards a darkish dial, a rotating timing bezel, an automated motion, spectacular water-resistance, and an antimagnetic case. These are issues which have change into commonplace in our definition of a dive watch, as per ISO 6425, however in these days all he had for reference was a clean sheet of paper.
He was not alone, nevertheless. When Captain Robert “Bob” Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud, founders of the newly shaped French Fight Swimmers unit, contacted Fiechter in 1952 in quest of an ideal watch for his or her underwater endeavors, an ideal partnership was shaped. The newly minted unit labored collectively to deliver the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms to life.
One of many early Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
In 1953, their brainchild noticed the sunshine. The Fifty Fathoms turned an indispensable piece of package for the French Fight Swimmers corps. To additional hyperlink this celebratory mannequin to the world of the lads it’s honoring, the watch dial hides a discreet tribute above the 6 o’clock marker. There, printed on the dial, is the quantity seven. Seven is a major quantity for divers, as a result of oxygen turns into poisonous when its partial strain reaches 1.7 bar. Meaning the deepest a frogman can go whereas utilizing pure oxygen is seven meters, and thus that quantity has change into engrained within the minds of divers the world over.
The watch is powered by the caliber 1315 automated motion. The motion features embrace the hours, minutes, seconds, and date (situated neatly between four and 5 o’clock on the dial). The 1315 additionally options an antimagnetic silicon hairspring, and, most impressively, three sequential barrels providing an enormous energy reserve of 120 hours (5 days). One final classic flourish is the fingers, that are painted white to match the favored styling of the early dive watches of the 1950s. Be taught extra at blancpain.com.
