Every time I write reviews about Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet watches, I feel like I’m underrating other watchmaking brands. While these three brands are arguably among the best watchmaking companies, it doesn’t mean that other names from the horological realm are somewhat inferior.
Some days ago, we at the AAAReplica store, had a hot debate about remarkable watchmaking brands, other than those that are usually the most discussable. Ironically or not, we all agreed that Blancpain is unjustly undervalued in our blog. For some reason, we paid little attention to this watchmaking company and now it’s time to correct the mistake.
I don’t know how much you know about Blancpain as a watch enthusiast. But, there certainly is a lot to admire in this brand. Beginning with its history and ending up with its iconic watches, Blancpain is worth all the attention of those who appreciate high quality and remarkable horological skills. I think it’s a huge mistake to ignore Blancpain watches. And if you still doubt about adding one to your watch collection, keep on reading to discover all the great things you didn’t know about it.
Historical background
Have you ever thought about which is the oldest brand in terms of watchmaking? If you are new to the hobby, you might probably think of Rolex, Patek Philippe, or even Audemars Piguet. While these brands do have a long history behind them, none of them is as old as Blancpain.
This brand began its watchmaking activity back in 1735. The beginning was pretty humble, with the founder opening his first workshop right on the upper floor of his house. The one who first set the foundation of what we know today was Jehan-Jaques Blancpain. He passed on all of his horological knowledge to the next generation. As a result, his grandson, Frederic Louis Blancpain was the one who blended the traditional watchmaking art of his grandfather with some innovative and modern techniques of those times.
Further on…
The watchmaking house did nothing else than just gradually evolve, introducing major innovations into the watch industry. One of those innovations refers to the cylinder escapement, which came to replace the typical crown-wheel mechanisms.
The main focus of the watchmaking house was always the high-end watch, as a “Bible”. The family acquired enough watchmaking knowledge throughout the years. In 1932, the last family member of the Blancpain company passed away. Still, he managed to pass on the whole “watchmaking science” to the new associates that run the business up till nowadays preserving with sanctity the traditional fundamentals.
Currently…
The brand is under the Swatch holding group management. Despite the two hundred years of existence, the brand has kept its fine style in designing some of the finest-crafted and elegant watches in the industry. It always remained true to its principles and never produced any single quartz timepiece. A curious thing about this brand is that it assembles no more than about 30 watches a day, despite its big factory. The reason is that each timepiece is manufactured by a sole watchmaking expert. So, each of them takes his time to accurately assemble what is meant to become a fabulous mechanical timepiece.
The most remarkable achievements of Blancpain include, but are not limited to the invention of the smallest movement in the world, as well as the thinnest one. In addition, the company takes pride in its spectacularly complicated mechanical timepieces along with loud and artistic designs.
5 Spectacular Blancpain Watches
To understand the value of this watchmaking brand, you should not only look at its historical background but at its portfolio as well. A quick spoiler here: Blancpain watches are true horological marvels from technical and aesthetic points of view. The great news is that some of them are available in their replica version here at the AAAReplica store. So, if you want to take a closer look at them, feel free. Meanwhile, let me show you a couple of Blancpain watches that I find simply impressive.
The Great Wave: Villeret Metiers d’Art
It’s not necessary for a watch to be super-complicated to be a horological marvel. And this model is clear evidence of that. You won’t see complex mechanics in the Great Wave watch. It is technically as simple as it can be running on a manual winding 13R3A mechanism. But, what you will surely see is a completely different approach to design and architecture. That’s because the brand changed the place of the power reserve indicator, removing it from the traditional dial location to the bridge side. As a result, you can see the indicator only from the caseback, leaving room for an immaculate dial with no “unnecessary” details.
Additional Specifications
The final touch of this epic timepiece is the dial, obviously. It’s not a traditional watch face, it’s a miniature painting. The dial literally has a white gold wave with a highly attractive patina on it. The wave makes reference to the Great Wave off Kanagawa, expressing the power of the ocean bringing out both fear and respect.
To obtain the specific patine on the wave, Blancpain used an untraditional technique. It immersed the Shakudo base of the white gold wave in a rokusho salt solution. Following such a process, the gold oxidizes, leading to the formation of different wave-like layers.
Obviously, the whole process was far more complex than that, but one thing is certain: this model is a time-keeping masterpiece.
Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel
“Chinois” is the French word for “Chinese”. Therefore, you might easily intuit that this watch has a Chinese Calendar integrated into it. It’s actually the first and the only one to have such an unconventional feature. Matter-of-factly, the timepiece includes elements from both Gregorian and Chinese calendars. The watch architecture includes the zodiac signs, the date and the month of the year, phases of the moon, the five elements, celestial steps, and double hour indication. So, technically, this model is as intricate as it can ever be, considering that all these indexes are exposed in a double “language”, the Gregorian and Chinese.
The Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel timepiece is worth being part of the horological history because no other brand has ever addressed the Chinese Calendar at such a particular and detailed level. Not to mention the number of complications in this watch, making it one of the most complex timepieces in modern horology.
Fifty Fathoms
This Blancpain collection sounds more familiar to watch enthusiasts. In spite of the fact that it’s a pretty modern collection, it actually dates back to 1957. The factor contributing to the wide popularity of this collection was that the famous oceanographer Jaques Cousteau took a Fifty Fathoms watch during The Silent World shooting. Jaques Cousteau was the one to introduce the great technical profile of the Fifty Fathoms diver watches.
Apart from being spectacularly resistant to water circumstances, this collection seems highly practical and durable, according to those who own them. These come with a black dial and a rotating bezel, as well as bold numerals to improve readability.
The name of the collection is not incidental; it suggests the exact amount of fathoms the divers could safely achieve with a single-use oxygen mixture. Due to the reliable technical profile of Fifty Fathoms watches, these began to be used by French, Spanish, American, and German Special Forces in various missions. For about 75 years since its first release, the Fifty Fathoms collection still amazes with its durability and robustness, making it a great option for restless adventurers.
The Ladybird
Blancpain introduced its first watch for ladies more or less in the same period when it released Fifty Phantoms. As the brand loves to be the first in something, it created the first smallest round watch in the whole world. This one refers to the Ladybird timepiece featuring only an 11,85mm case. Small, but efficient, as the quote says; the watch could provide up to 40 hours of power reserve.
Throughout the years, the Ladybird collection has gone through plenty of variations to meet the demands of specific times. The changes included interchangeable straps, gem-set options, and diverse dial colors. Still, the most fabulous iteration of the Ladybird that Blancpain unveiled was in 2016. The new version came with a smaller caliber than the previous ones, which was 15,7 mm in diameter. The mother-of-pearl motif of the dial, the diamonds instead of hour markers, and the 32 diamonds of the bezel make this watch an alluring time-keeping marvel.
1735 Grande Complication Blancpain
I’ll round up my list with the 1735 Grande Complication model, simply because I find it as the pearl of the Blancpain portfolio. To begin with, the brand released this timepiece in only 30 pieces. Secondly, it took one year for each of the watches to be assembled. Third and most impressive of all, the main goal of the brand is to incorporate into this watch all the convolutions of the 6 previous Blancpain watches. How about such a concept?!
The ironic part of the story is that the exterior of the watch looks pretty conventional for a tourbillon watch. The dial includes a perpetual calendar with a date and day display, leap year, moon phase indicator, and a split rattrapante chronograph among other technical marvels. On the inside, the movement of the watch was assembled from 740 components. Didn’t I tell you that this watchmaker makes fabulous pieces?!
