THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN

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Tous nos droits sur ce document sont réservés. Ce dernier est destiné au seul destinataire autorisée. Sans notre autorisation écrite préalable, il ne peut être ni copié, ni reproduit, ni communiqué à des tiers. IN TIME Left, the sapphire crystal of the Fifty Fathoms which has the visual feel of the mineral glass crystal of the 1950s models. Right, the rose gold, grey bezel of the Fifty Fathoms Chronograph ref 5085F-3634-52 Cotes en mm Tolérances en μ Tol. générales: ±20 Angles non tol.: ±5°
equired before Blancpain in 2003 could introduce the world’s first wristwatch with a sapphire bezel with luminova markings in the 50th Anniversary Edition of the Fifty Fathoms. Blancpain did not imagine the project simply as one to adapt a scratch resistant material for the Fifty Fathoms bezel. Instead the task was far more demanding. It wanted to capture all of the allure and design of the iconic Fifty Fathoms which first debuted in 1953, but realised with modern and innovative materials. Thus it would not be enough to simply place a sapphire ring on the bezel and declare the job done. The resulting bezel had to capture the vintage look and feel of its original ancestor which had a black colour and luminous marking, both of which were critical legibility elements for diving. Similarly the crystal itself was made part of the project. Unlike bezels, sapphire crystals were not only common in the industry, they had become the norm. But the crystal for the Anniversary Fifty Fathoms had to achieve the look of the original 1953 piece, which was not flat but bombée, originally done to enhance its ability to resist water pressure during deep dives. So the bezel project and crystal project became joined as Blancpain undertook to recreate the spirit of the past with modern sapphire technology. There were multiple challenges which had to be confronted to make the world’s first sapphire bezel with super luminova a reality. First was developing a process to imbue the bezel with colour and provide for the luminova markings. The ingenious solution was to apply layers of lacquer to the flat bottom side of the sapphire bezel ring and therefollowing to carve out all of the areas for the markings. Once sculpted out from the laquer layers, super luminova could be applied, producing luminous markings which would be visible from the top surface. With both laquer colour now applied and luminous markings achieved, we are still far from a finished bezel. Extensive work fol- 30 | 31 lowed to find a sealing material to protect the bottom surface but not harm or alter the colour of the laquer or markings. Months of trial and error and testing were devoted to finding the right sealant. Attention then shifted to the shape of the sapphire ring. A flat top surface was the norm for other diving watches in the industry. Those that were formed with some degree of curvature bore markings that were essentially on the curved surface. In both of these instances there was little visual interest in the bezel beyond the colour and markings themselves. But with the markings on the bottom surface of the sapphire ring, Blancpain had the opportunity to endow the bezel with a visual depth never before achieved. The sapphire ring was seen as a form of lens which, with the proper degree of top surface rounding, could bring both life and a minor degree of magnification to the markings underneath.
Page 1 and 2: THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN Traversing
Page 3 and 4: DEAR FELLOW WATCH CONNOISSEURS: Wel
Page 5 and 6: CONTENT IN TIME ART DE VIVRE IN TIM
Page 7 and 8: OF BLANCPAIN BY JEFFREY S. KINGSTON
Page 9 and 10: JEHAN-JACQUES BLANCPAIN’S ORIGINA
Page 11 and 12: pocket watches feature the crown at
Page 13 and 14: THE RAYVILLE WORKSHOP IN VILLERET C
Page 15 and 16: 1953 The original Fifty Fathoms. TH
Page 17 and 18: BY DIDIER SCHMUTZ PHOTOGRAPHS ANNE-
Page 19 and 20: Nothing. Only a faint rustle of bra
Page 21 and 22: est, and have lost all respect for
Page 23 and 24: We followed Lorenzo so he could tak
Page 25 and 26: 22 | 23
Page 27 and 28: ney because Le Brassus is the last
Page 29 and 30: 26 | 27
Page 31: and asks ‘How much?’; the barte
Page 35 and 36: Blancpain developed a shape which w
Page 37 and 38: BY JEFFREY S. KINGSTON 34 THE BLANC
Page 39 and 40: CHAMPAGNE QUALITY AND CHARACTER IS
Page 41 and 42: oker from Alsace, came to the Champ
Page 43 and 44: Dr. George Derbalian in one of the
Page 45 and 46: L ES AVENTURES: This is a blend fro
Page 47 and 48: 44 | 45
Page 49 and 50: Only the cream of the crop work at
Page 51 and 52: 48 | 49
Page 53 and 54: Art without Concessions In addition
Page 55 and 56: JOURNEY TO JAPAN The Tobu World Wat
Page 57 and 58: 54 | 55
Page 59 and 60: Satigny vineyards and “Domaine de
Page 61 and 62: 58 | 59
Page 63 and 64: Right: Les framboises de Machilly f
Page 65 and 66: An outrageous introduction, perhaps
Page 67 and 68: The Leman Flyback Grand Date. The L
Page 69 and 70: At midnight this comfortable relati
Page 71 and 72: Fig. 6 The system for rapid date co
Page 73 and 74: THE SECRET ART OF SWISS CHOCOLATE O
Page 75 and 76: Urs Liechti is in charge of a small
Page 77 and 78: SUCCESS STORY The Sprüngli & fils
Page 79 and 80: 76 | 77
Page 81 and 82: FARMERS IN ACTION Let us now turn o
Page 83 and 84:
80 | 81 work is more than positive:
Page 85 and 86:
The ”Over The Rainbow“. Right,
Page 88:
Fifty Fathoms Tourbillon (ref. 5025
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THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN

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