The latest homage paid to the iconic and historic forerunner.
Fifty Fathoms is one of the top collections in Blancpain's current portfolio. The collection was born thanks to a combination of the right circumstances and its creator's own personal hobby. It all began in the early 1950s when diving was still only beginning to become popular. The first groups of divers to explore the underwater world would meet on Europe's beaches.
One of them was Jean-Jacques Fiechter, who was lucky enough to be able to enjoy diving thanks to his aunt Betty. His aunt ran Blancpain and was the first woman to head a Swiss watch company. She also owned a summer house on the French Riviera where Jean-Jacques spent the holidays.
After a dive that nearly ended in tragedy when Jean-Jacques ran out of oxygen, he realized that a mask and an oxygen tank aren't the only things divers needed. They also needed a watch. But at the time, no one has any idea what they should look like. Fiechter's design built on his own experience and was further developed based on specifications for a watch that the French Navy needed for its Nageurs de Combat (or Combat Divers).
The watch had O-ring gaskets to seal the caseback and crown, as well as a bezel that could be used to measure immersion time. The watch was so successful that Fifty Fathoms was used by the navies of France, Germany and the United States. They then became popular among ordinary diving enthusiasts who had grown in numbers by that stage.
The iconic collection's history is written right on the watch’s dial. Just take the US Navy MIL-SPEC emergency water-tightness moisture indicator as an example, or the "no radiations" logo indicating the absence of radium. The latter appeared on watches in the mid-1960s when radium was recognized as dangerous.
Before this moment of revelation however, the element had been used extensively in watchmaking for its luminescent properties. Blancpain decided to declare its watches are safe directly on the dial. This special model became a real find over time, which collectors were eager to hunt down. The model became easier to come by in 2021.
The Tribute to Fifty Fathoms No Rad bearing the same logo has been limited to 500 pieces. The watch with a water resistance of up to 300 meters still glows thanks to the luminescent material Super-LumiNova which has been used to coat the time scale on the bezel, chapter ring, and hands.
By and large, the reissue of the Fifty Fathoms from the 1960s adheres to design codes that have already been established, with its diamond-shaped 12 o'clock marker and dot indexes, three minute markings at 15, 30, and 45 on the rotating bezel, and a date aperture framed by a white rim. Inside the 40.3 mm case is the Blancpain Caliber 1151 self-winding manufacture movement (3.25 mm thick) with a silicon balance spring and two barrels that ensure a 100-hour power reserve.