THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN

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.