Results for Fifty Fathoms

Photo Report: MoonSwatch Déjà Vu: Lines Form In NYC For The Launch Of The Blancpain X Swatch Scuba Fifty Fathoms

The new automatic Bioceramic collab still had people turning out in droves, and we were on the scene in Times Square.

Blancpain and Swatch Launch the Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms Collection

Introducing: The Blancpain Tribute To Fifty Fathoms No Rad Limited Edition

There are no radiations, but it's pretty rad.

Introducing: Blancpain Doubles Down On Purpose-Built Tools With The Crazy Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa (Live Pics)

Most divers can only dream of using this watch as designed, which just makes it that much cooler.

Introducing: Blancpain Kicks Off 70th Anniversary Celebration With A Limited Edition Fifty Fathoms

And a new (42mm) case, too.

The Spec Sheet: Going Beyond Fifty Fathoms With The Blancpain Bathyscaphe In Black Ceramic

A modern update on a rich diving pedigree, the Bathyscaphe in black ceramic hits the nail right on the head.

Introducing Blancpain’s Tribute to Fifty Fathoms “No Rad”

The return of the iconic Blancpain “No Radiations” dial.

Introducing the Mean Green Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback

Blancpain announces two Bathyscaphe watches, one particularly with the tropical green dial was a hit with the earlier Bathyscaphe Mokarran limited edition

Revolution Awards 2017: Best Sports Watch - Blancpain Tribute to Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC

Once again, the global editors of Revolution weigh in on the best timepieces of the year, as well as the personalities that shaped the watch industry.

From Fifty Fathoms to X Fathoms

Field Test: Blancpain Tribute to Fifty Fathoms Aqua Lung

“Coast Guard, this is motor-vessel Bonsai, we have a missing diver in the water. Repeat, missing diver.” I scanned the choppy water as we motored in increasing arcs, realising the near-impossibility of spotting a person in the 7ft (2m) swells. I’d rehearsed this scenario in my head a hundred times, but nothing could prepare me […]

Introducing: Blancpain Celebrates The 70th Anniversary Of The Ladybird Collection With The Mini "Lady B" Revival

What We Know In 1932, a 36-year-old woman took a massive gamble early in her career at Blancpain. Betty Fiechter, who had worked for the brand since she was 16, faced a dilemma after the sudden death of the brand's owner, Frederic-Emile Blancpain. Together with commercial director Andre Leal, she helped secure loans to buy the company, even navigating the need to rename the manufacture because the Swiss government prevented anyone but someone with that name from using Blancpain. Fiechter would eventually mentor her nephew, Jean-Jacques Fiechter, and together they would inaugurate two of the brand's most successful icons: the Fifty Fathoms and the Ladybird. The original Ladybird Bullet The launch of the Ladybird in 1956 was a big deal, not just because a woman led a manufacturer in an era when women couldn't even vote in Switzerland. Inside the original Ladybird "Bullet" was the R55, the smallest round mechanical movement, and one with extra durability, with a fifth wheel to limit the force on the escapement and a shock protector on the balance wheel. It remains the smallest round mechanical movement to this day. To honor that watch, Fiechter, and the 70th anniversary of the Ladybird, Blancpain is releasing a new Lady B (for bullet, I'm sure, but also Betty and, according to the brand, bijou or "jewel") with very tiny dimensions. The watch measures a tiny 19mm by 13.2mm in either stainless steel or 18k red gold, with a total volume of only 2.9 cm³. Despite its size, it has...

AWCo and Squale Return With 60 More NOS Blancpain-Cased Divers

In 2020, Squale teamed up with Amsterdam Watch Company for a truly memorable collaboration: two “Fifty Fathoms” divers using NOS cases from the 1950s, originally manufactured by Squale for Blancpain (technically, this was pre-Squale, which was established in 1959, so the cases would have been made under Von Büren SA). It’s a unique type of watch that only pops up once every few years, if that. NOS cases make them part vintage, part modern. That’s always intriguing, but even more so when the cases come from watches that are so coveted, rare, and, frankly, expensive. Priced at around $2k at the time and limited to 60 pieces each, they sold out the same day, leaving many collectors, such as yours truly, wishing they had pulled the trigger a little faster. In 2020, however, AWCo teased that more would be coming, noting that Squale had access to 180 NOS cases in total, not just the 120 used for those first two editions. That left 60 more for a third. Well, that day has come with the launch of the AWCo x Squale Milbino. A logical but no less exciting addition to the series, the Milbino takes inspiration from mil-spec Fifty Fathoms watches. The telltale feature, which is hard to miss, is the moisture indicator on the dial. Created in the 1950s as a safety feature for military divers, it would change color if moisture breached the case seals, quickly letting the diver know that their watch had been compromised. A cool, practical detail that has since become collector catn...

Blancpain Faithfully Revisits 1968 Bathyscaphe

Blancpain is marking the 70th anniversary of its lesser-known dive watch with the 1960s-inspired Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe. With a faithful 37.4 mm steel case and high-end movement, the Bathyscaphe will likely be welcomed by collectors who have been waiting for a more compact Fifty Fathoms. Initial thoughts Blancpain has an unusually rich history of producing dive watches — the Fifty Fathoms dates to 1953 and introduced the now-ubiquitous rotating dive bezel at roughly the same time as the Rolex Submariner. Blancpain’s early divers were commercial products aimed at military customers — then the only sizable market for such watches. That changed in 1956, when growing consumer interest in diving led to the release of the Bathyscaphe. This historic name was reborn in 2013, but the contemporary interpretation of the line was a significant aesthetic departure from the look of the original 1950s and 1960s models. Somewhat confusingly, Blancpain is marking the 70th anniversary of the Bathyscaphe with an homage to a 1968 model. Timeline aside, the anniversary edition features a period-correct 37.4 mm case and beige Super-LumiNova to capture the aged look of surviving originals. The arrow-tipped running seconds hand is another charming detail that reproduces the original look to good effect. During the 1950s and 1960s, Blancpain waffled between serif and sans-serif wordmarks, and the brand has opted for the latter for the anniversary edition. To my eye it strikes just the rig...

Introducing - New, Softer Colour Schemes for the Blancpain Villeret Ultraplate 38mm

Alongside the sporty Fifty Fathoms, Bathyscaphe or Air Command collections, the Villeret range, named after the village in the Vallée de Joux, where Jehan-Jacques Blancpain set up his workshop on the top floor of his house in 1735, is the epitome of classic. Ranging from time-only to high complications, the entry-level model to the Villeret […]

The Surprising Royal Pop from Swatch and Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet (AP) and Swatch have teamed up to launch the Royal Pop, a series of lanyard-borne pocket swatches in eight pop art-inspired colourways set to hit stores on May 16th. It also debuts new manually wound Sistem 51 movements, including one with small seconds, to capture the pocket watch feel. This could be seen as AP having a little fun on a project set in motion by a Swatch-obsessed former CEO, or long-term thinking to cultivate the next generation of customers. Initial thoughts I imagine ambivalence will define the general reaction to the Royal Pop, as it should. A pop art-inspired pocket Swatch is a challenging product to casual watch buyers and enthusiasts alike. And I mean that as praise — it would have been much easier to go the MoonSwatch or Scuba Fifty Fathoms route, but much less interesting. Ref. SSX03L101N. Case in point, a non-enthusiast friend texted me over the weekend expressing interest in the Royal Pop under the common assumption that it would take after the MoonSwatch. In short, he was expecting a plastic Royal Oak. He was less enthusiastic — but not entirely put off — when I asked him how he’d feel about a manually wound pocket watch. Ref. SSX03R100N. While my favourite watches are overwhelmingly pocket watches (or pocket chronometers), I can’t see myself wearing one regularly, be it a Swatch Pop or a Nicole Nielsen tourbillon. I do, however, see myself attaching an Otg Roz Royal Pop to my keychain or workbag. Considering the recent ...

My Father’s Longines HydroConquest GMT, Two Years On (Owner’s Perspective)

The Longines HydroConquest GMT is one of Longines’ most modern references, but has it stood up to two years’ worth of my father’s ownership standards? Let’s ask him! Purchasing Expectations: A utilitarian watch, fit for my dad’s lifestyle Clever micro-adjustment system A Flyer-style GMT, helpful for international travel Ownership Reality: Some design elements we disagree with Durability of the rubber strap Can you see the date? Overall Rating: 8.5/10 Value for Money: 9/10 Wearability: 9/10 Design: 8/10 Build Quality: 8/10 When it comes to dive watches, very few can genuinely be called underrated. It’s a thoroughly complete subgenre of horology, filled with some of the most iconic collections in watchmaking history. Submariner, Fifty Fathoms, Seamaster, Aquaracer, Black Bay… these are just a few names that define the dive watch enthusiast’s vocabulary. But more often than not, the price-to-performance ratio is heavily skewed. These collections carry not only cultural weight but a sense of luxury as well, and their prices rarely reflect their intended purpose. Tangentially, I told a friend earlier this year that I believed Submariners are the most mistreated watches in history: built to withstand extreme pressures, yet typically left to gather dust in a safe. Diving Into The New Longines Hydroconquest GMT 43mm One dive watch that avoids this fate is the Longines HydroConquest. Luxurious yet fairly priced, high-performance without pretension, it has consis...

Hands-On With The New Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie

When you think of Blancpain, you probably see a mental image of the Fifty Fathoms, Bathyscaphe, or perhaps even a Villeret model. At least, those were the watches I had in mind when the folks at Blancpain invited us over to Le Brassus and see their latest creation a few weeks ago. This video is […] Visit Hands-On With The New Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie to read the full article.

In-Depth: Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie

Blancpain has just unveiled its most complex modern-day watch, the Grande Double Sonnerie, to mark its 190th anniversary. This CHF1.7 million grand complication signals Blancpain’s return to the highest tier of haute horlogerie. One of the most technically ambitious chiming wristwatches ever made, the Grande Double Sonnerie incorporates traditional complications: grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, flying tourbillon, and retrograde perpetual calendar, but also offers an unexpected twist with two distinct chiming melodies, a Westminster chime plus a a bespoke sequence composed for Blancpain by Eric Singer of rock band Kiss. Initial thoughts It has been some time since Blancpain unveiled a truly headline-grabbing complication. The manufacture made its name in this arena with the 1735 of 1991, but in the decades since, its output has leaned toward more conventional high-end offerings - perpetual calendars, tourbillons, carrousels, and chiming watches - while its commercial momentum has come largely from the Fifty Fathoms and Villeret triple calendar. The unexpected Grande Double Sonnerie is therefore a reminder of what Blancpain can do at the very top level of watchmaking. The Le Brassus-based manufacture tends to be overlooked when speaking of high horology today, but the Grande Double Sonnerie should remind enthusiasts how sure-footed Blancpain is in this regard. Even before considering the many complexities of the timepiece, the watch impresses from the fir...

The Next Generation of the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean is Here

You have to give credit where it’s due: Omega teased a big update to their Seamaster Planet Ocean, and they delivered. The collector community will surely debate every aspect of the new fourth generation Planet Ocean, but this is not an iterative change or a minor tweak. It’s a fairly radical rethinking of the style and aesthetic of Omega’s premier professional diving watch, and when you put an early version of the Planet Ocean next to the new gen, it’s honestly hard to see the connection between them. Not impossible, but by “iconic dive watch” standards, which keeps stalwarts like the Submariner and Fifty Fathoms looking much like the watches that they started life as, this is a different kettle of fish entirely.  We’ll start with the case, because that’s really where the heart of the Planet Ocean’s rethinking really comes into play most clearly. The knock on the Planet Ocean, since its inception, has always been that it’s overly thick. Of course, being that this is a pro diver with double the water resistance of most other consumer oriented divers, a little heft is to be expected. Still, the general proportions of previous Planet Ocean cases were always a cause of consternation among a subset of die hards.  The new watch measures 42mm in diameter and is 13.79mm thick, a significant reduction over the previous Planet Ocean’s 16.1mm case height. The new case also benefits from a flat sapphire crystal and a new titanium caseback, both of which ought ...

Introducing: The Updated Blancpain Villeret Golden Hour Collection

Today, we’ll look at tasteful updates by Blancpain to its Villeret collection. Aside from the well-known Fifty Fathoms, these are the watches most people think of when considering the brand. After all, this collection was an integral part of Blancpain’s relaunch in the ’80s. For today, three models have been reinterpreted with golden-hour hues. Let’s […] Visit Introducing: The Updated Blancpain Villeret Golden Hour Collection to read the full article.

Spinnaker and Seconde/Seconde/ Return with a Pair of Ghostly Limited Editions

The designer and artist Romaric Andre (better known as Seconde/Seconde/) has had a string of hit limited edition watches over the last few years. Seriously, Google his name of Seconde/Seconde/, or just search our site, and you’ll see collaborations with brands large, small, expensive, affordable, and everywhere in between. He is, quite simply, one of the more prolific figures in the watch industry over the last five years or so.  I have to confess I’m not sure if anyone has yet attempted to make a list of the best of most viral Seconde/Seconde/ creations, but if such a list exists and it doesn’t have his Halloween themed collaborations with Spinnaker on it, I’m here to tell you it’s incomplete. This is the type of watch that when it was launched, the inevitable shortage produced vitriol and anger on Instagram (quickly corrected with the announcement of an additional, less limited batch). Now, Spinnaker and Seconde/Seconde/ have reteamed for another bite at the apple with the Fleuss Automatic Seconde/Seconde 2025 Edition.  The new release maintains the “phantom” dial concept (a take off on “Fifty Fathoms,” get it?) but this time around there are two case sizes to choose from, 40mm (“Phantom Steel”) and 43mm (“Phantom White”). Both have a textured gray dial with lume filled indices and hands, and of course a whole bunch of those little lumed ghosts, completing the visual pun.  In addition to the option for multiple case sizes, both variants also ...

Blancpain In-Store Event

Join us for a special celebration of Blancpain, the world’s oldest watchmaking brand and a true pioneer in haute horlogerie. This exclusive event will highlight the breadth of Blancpain’s artistry, from its iconic tool watches to its most refined expressions of elegance. Discover the legendary Fifty Fathoms, the origin

We hosted two Blancpain events 17,000 kilometres apart, filling out both the London and Melbourne Discovery Studios

After years of fan feedback asking for more versatile sizing in the Fifty Fathoms collection, Blancpain took just a few months to make that reality, though it undoubtedly took years of product development. First came the Fifty Fathoms Automatique 42, with all the features you know and love from the 45mm model, but carefully downsized … ContinuedThe post We hosted two Blancpain events 17,000 kilometres apart, filling out both the London and Melbourne Discovery Studios appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Swatch x Blancpain Green Abyss: Plastic, Automatic, and Weirdly Desirable

Discover the new Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms 'Green Abyss'-a $400 automatic dive watch dropping June 7, blending playful design with mechanical credibility.

Longines Legend Diver Guide

The Longines Legend Diver, introduced in the mid-aughts but tracing its origins all the way back to the embryonic era of modern dive watches in the 1950s and ‘60s, is the epitome of retro-vintage cool for many lovers of sport watches. Here’s how the watch, and its hallmark and still-rare Super Compressor case design, found a successful niche, and an avid audience, in the 21st century.  1959: The Inspiration As with many now-common watchmaking innovations, Longines was one of the pioneers in waterproofing timepieces, making its first water-resistant case as early as 1937, and introducing its first wristwatches purpose-built for recreational diving in the late 1950s. Unlike many of its predecessors and contemporaries in that fertile era of iconic dive watches - like the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Rolex Submariner (both 1953), and Omega Seamaster Professional (1957) - Longines’s Super Compressor Diver Ref. 7042, launched in 1959 and the most direct ancestor of today’s Legend Diver - did not employ the now-ubiquitous, external, unidirectional rotating bezel for its dive scale. Instead, the watch was designed in the so-called compressor style, also used by brands like Jaeger-LeCoultre, Enicar, and Universal Genève, whose case design included an inner dive-scale ring, positioned on the dial’s flange and mounted under the crystal, which rotated in both directions, operated by an additional crown at 4 o’clock. The “Super” in Longines’ “Super Compressor”...

The Alchemy of Style & Substance

The Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Gets A Bold Makeover With Three New Black Ceramic Models And A Selection Of Seductive Green Dials

Introducing - The Cool Squale 2001 Dive Watch is Back as a Permanent Collection

Squale is often regarded as sort of a hidden gem of the dive watch scene, a brand that speaks mostly to hardcore divers and seasoned aquatic watch enthusiasts. Created by Charles Von Büren in 1959, who also made cases for multiple other companies (military Fifty Fathoms watches, for example), the brand gained fame thanks to […]

Introducing: The Bulova Snorkel Collection With Hybrid Ceramic Cases And Tropical Colors

After Swatch’s Speedmaster MoonSwatch and Scuba Fifty Fathoms collections, we were waiting for the next Swatch Group classic to undergo a Bioceramic metamorphosis. But now it looks like Citizen Group is entering the competition with its new Bulova Snorkel collection. The inspiration for these Hybrid Ceramic watches comes from the brand’s iconic Oceanographer Snorkel, nicknamed […] Visit Introducing: The Bulova Snorkel Collection With Hybrid Ceramic Cases And Tropical Colors to read the full article.

Hands-On With Three New Ceramic Blancpain Bathyscaphe Models

Blancpain has been hard at work filling out its Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe collection. Earlier this year, we saw the introduction of two new ceramic Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet models. Several months later, we were treated to the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune and Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback, both in 18K […] Visit Hands-On With Three New Ceramic Blancpain Bathyscaphe Models to read the full article.