The New Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Act 3 MIL-SPEC Bronze-Gold

This 12 months, Blancpain has already unveiled plenty of new variations of its emblematic dive watch, the Fifty Fathoms. We first seen a limited-edition 42mm Fifty Fathoms (Act 1), adopted by the spectacular Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa developed for closed-circuit rebreather diving (Act 2)… To not level out the much-discussed Blancpain x Swatch collaboration. It’s now time to unveil the third act of this anniversary assortment with a beautiful bronze-gold watch instantly modelled after traditional MIL-SPEC fashions in German silver, bringing the much-appreciated look of these military-issued variations.

The Fifty Fathoms is undoubtedly most likely essentially the most iconic dive watches. Primarily based on the mannequin, it was created in 1953 by Jacques Fiechter, CEO of Blancpain on the time and a scuba diving fan. Born as a purpose-built piece of equipment, its story can be related to French navy divers Bob Maloubier and Claude Riffaud, who examined this rugged, sensible watch on their underwater missions in early 1954.

The Fifty Fathoms included the archetypal choices of the modern dive watch fashion as a robust, extraordinarily legible watch that was waterproof to good depths (91 metres) and outfitted with a unidirectional rotating bezel to time dives. As compared with manually wound watches, which had been nonetheless sort of the benchmark in nowadays, its automated movement involved a lot much less coping with and placed on on the crown and gaskets. With the occasion of navy, expert and recreative diving, the Fifty Fathoms encountered good success, and quite a few variations of the watch had been launched over time. It was chosen by diving pioneers and the elite Marine Corps as educated timekeeping instrument. Throughout the late Fifties, with the need to reinforce safety for divers, an additional operate was included: a spherical water-tightness indicator consisting of a coloured disc. Retaining its genuine coloration allowed divers to check that the water resistance of their watch had not been compromised. It was present on the dial of the Fifty Fathoms model usually known as the “MIL-SPEC” (for Navy Specification), which was utilized by American combat swimmers.

Whereas it isn’t the first time that Blancpain has launched once more this cool military-inspired look and moisture indicator (this was finished in 2017 in a extremely modernised model), the Fifty Fathoms Seventieth Anniversary Act 3 immediately grabs your consideration with its two-tone black-bronze coloration scheme and a case design that’s all reliable to early editions of the FF watch. 

Blancpain research that the historic fashions had been made in steel after which in German silver to cut back the magnetic signature – and with a brushed finish to cut back reflections. Recalling the colour of German silver, the Fifty Fathoms Mil-Spec Act 3 is common out of bronze-gold. This patented fashionable alloy has been beforehand seen at Omega, Blancpain’s sister agency. It incorporates 37.5% gold (hallmarked 9K), 50% copper – allowing it to be known as “bronze” – plus silver, palladium and gallium. Amongst completely different attention-grabbing properties, it might be worn in direct contact with the pores and pores and skin and is additional corrosion-resistant than regular bronze alloys (with a managed patination). 

Other than the distinctive moisture indicator, the matte black dial and the rotating bezel with a black ceramic insert every operate traditional Great-LumiNova matching the colour of the case whereas providing good distinction and legibility. The Blancpain model makes use of the traditional font and, in distinction to genuine MIL-SPECs, it’s paired with the phrases Fifty Fathoms. Manufactured from recycled fishing nets, the two-tone NATO strap items the ultimate contact.

The 41.30mm case captures the feeling of the distinctive fashions of the Fifties, with its straight lugs and flanks, its large, flat bezel framing a raised crystal and fantastic notches on the periphery and an unprotected crown. On this respect, it feels extraordinarily utterly completely different from the fundamental case we’ve been used to seeing in most of the fashionable Fifty Fathoms watches.

Nonetheless, as you’ll depend on, it’s a classy improvement. The unidirectional rotating bezel encompasses a ceramic insert, and the box-shaped glass is in scratch-proof sapphire crystal. The crown screws down, and the water resistance is now rated at 300m. Remaining nonetheless not least, in distinction to the distinctive model, the screw-down caseback is now fitted with a sapphire crystal with a view of calibre 1154 P2.

Derived from the fundamental Blancpain 1150, this skinny automated calibre runs at a 3Hz frequency and boasts a substantial 100-hour vitality reserve on two barrels. For the first time, the resistance to magnetic fields of this movement has been pushed to 1,000 Gauss with a silicon stability spring and distinctive alloys for the escapement. The soundness is a free-sprung construction with gold adjustment screws. The 1154 P2 moreover choices bridges enlarged to the diameter of the movement. The decoration is sober nonetheless correctly executed. The oscillating weight’s kind is impressed by the historic rotor and it’s adorned with a traditional logotype.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Seventieth Anniversary Act 3 is launched in a 555-piece restricted model. The value is about at CHF 30,000. For additional information, please go to www.blancpain.com.