Blancpain

Blancpain was founded in 1735 and belongs to the Swatch Group (Breguet, Omega, Longines, Swatch). For many years during the 20th century Blancpain was out of business and did not sell any watches. In the 1980s Blancpain was revived and today enjoys considerable success among collectors.

A somewhat famous marketing slogan is that Blancpain has never produced quartz watches and it never will. Every Blancpain timepiece (usually thirty to forty per day are being manufacture) is entirely made by one person, the so called watchmaker. The Blancpain 1735 watch is one of the most complicated watches ever made, its features include a tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split chrono – and together are the base for a grand complication. Blancpain watches are also popular with sports fans and divers.

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NEWS:

Check Out this Comprehensive Collection of Vintage Fifty Fathoms Dive Watches at the Blancpain Boutique in New York

While WatchTime New York 2018 is right around the corner (Saturday tickets are still available, click here), we would be remiss not to mention an ongoing exhibition by one of the longest-tenured WTNY brands, Blancpain. Currently on view at the brand’s boutique on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is a one-of-a-kind collection of vintage Fifty Fathoms dive watches...

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Oct 14, 2018 by Logan R. Baker

Promotion

Baume & Mercier’s new Clifton Baumatic: Lengthened Service Intervals

A mechanical watch movement is a complex mechanism comprising numerous mobile miniature components. Their perpetual interaction results in friction and wear ultimately influencing the smooth running of the movement. This is one of the reasons why watches have to be returned for regular service. The new Clifton Baumatic from Baume & Mercier with the maison’s...

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Oct 15, 2018 by WatchTime

PORTFOLIO

Splash! A Plunge Into the Colorful World of Watersports Watches

Take the plunge with us into the colorful world of water sports. Here you can find professional instruments with appealing technologies, styles, and prices. In this article, we present divers’ watches without complex additional functions (e.g., chronographs) because the watches listed here are designed to focus your undivided attention on the time of day and the...

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Oct 2, 2018 by Alexander Krupp

FEATURE

Dive Watches in Depth: A Dive Watch FAQ

"How water-resistant does it need to be?" "How does a depth gauge work?" We answer your FAQs about dive watches: learn about water resistance, diving bezels, depth gauges, and more in this feature from the WatchTime archives.

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Sep 18, 2018 by WatchTime

POLL:

Vote on the Winner of WatchTime Wrist Shot Contest #2

Capping off another successful WatchTime Wrist Shot Contest submission period, here are our top 10 images of the 300-plus wrist shots submitted to us through e-mail and Instagram over the past two weeks. Please vote on what you think is the best image based on composition, creativity, and image quality. The top five finishers will receive...

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Oct 9, 2018 by WatchTime

FEATURE

Bare Bones: 10 Standout Skeleton Watches

For watch aficonados who love the technical "openwork" artistry of skeleton watchmaking, we take a look at 10 skeleton watches introduced in recent years, from brands like Glashütte Original, Blancpain, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget and others.

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Sep 18, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

NEWS:

WatchTime New York 2018: Introducing the Brands

The fourth annual WatchTime New York show is a little over a month away and the 2018 edition is prepared to be our largest and most exciting yet. We’ve got 31 brands showcasing on the floor plus a variety of panels highlighting independent watchmakers, American microbrands, and a state-of-the-industry discussion featuring a number of renowned...

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Sep 13, 2018 by WatchTime

PROMOTION:

Gucci Presents #TimeToParr: An Uncommon Photographic Journey

Embracing Instagram’s creative landscape over the past three years with dedicated projects in which artists play with House motifs, Gucci has published and promoted these special works with a series of hashtags. Now, for the first time, the House is collaborating with a single artist on an Instagram project. Exploring the nature of time and...

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Oct 9, 2018 by WatchTime

TIMEPIECE TIMELINE

10 Highlights in the History of the Dive Watch

In the beginning, dive watches were pure tools that helped keep divers on time and alive. Today they’re something else: fashion statements, conversation pieces, rugged companions for a trip to the beach or pool. Our Timeline: "Dive Watches Through the Decades," traces the history of the dive watch from its start in the 1920s, with the invention of the first truly water-resistant cases, to 2014.

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Sep 11, 2018 by WatchTime

GOING THE EXTRA FATHOM:

The Rolex Deepsea and 6 Other Extreme Dive Watches

We take a look at seven "extreme" dive watches - including the Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea D-Blue Edition; Breitling's Superocean Chronograph M2000 and the UTS 4000M Professional Diver - and what sets them apart from the pack.

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Aug 29, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

10 Places Where Wearing a Watch Beats Checking a Phone

One of our loyal readers recently sent me an article about how some people now wear watches solely as jewelry and don’t even bother to set the time since they now rely on their cell phones for that. Well, as an employee of WatchTime, that idea surely burns my biscuits, so I got to thinking...

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Aug 22, 2018 by Stephen Brown

Depths of Complexity: 5 Ultra-Complicated Dive Watches

Most mechanical dive watches are priced under $10,000 (even though the iconic Rolex Deepsea, Sea-Dweller, and Submariner, and some Blancpain Fifty Fathoms models, might go for a bit more nowadays), but there are several fascinating dive watches that go way beyond that. Here are some examples.

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Aug 14, 2018 by Roger Ruegger

TIMEPIECE TIMELINE

10 Milestone Moments in the History of the Wristwatch

Today it is common to wear a watch on one’s wrist, but it was a different story around 100 years ago. World War I, which started in 1914 and ended in 1918, brought to the battlefield much that was new — airplanes, mustard gas, military tanks. It also brought something new to civilian society: wristwatches,...

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Aug 7, 2018 by WatchTime

Collector Conversations: Jeff Kingston

There’s a reason the name Jeff Kingston might sound familiar to many of you. Longtime readers of WatchTime should recognize him from our IBG (Inside Basel-Geneva) days when the WatchTime staff and Kingston would tour the country each year leading lectures about the top watches and brands from SIHH and Baselworld. These days you will...

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Jul 29, 2018 by Roger Ruegger

DIVE WATCHES 101:

What Did Divers Use Before There Were Dive Watches?

What did divers use before Rolex and Blancpain launched their first wristwatches for divers in the early 1950s, creating the archetype of the modern dive watch?

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Jul 10, 2018 by Roger Ruegger

DIVE WATCH BASICS

The Basics of the Rotating Divers’ Watch Bezel

In this article on divers' watches, we take a look at what is probably the most distinctive element of a dive watch: the rotating bezel.

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Jul 6, 2018 by Roger Ruegger

NEWS

Blancpain Debuts Its Third Fifty Fathoms Ocean Commitment Limited Edition

It’s been a big week for luxury watch brands in partnership with water-related philanthropic causes. On the heels of Hublot’s presentation of a 1.7 million check to charity: water from sales of its Big Bang Depeche Mode Special Edition, Blancpain presented, for World Oceans Day on June 8, the third in its series of Ocean...

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Jun 9, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

Blackout: 17 Black-on-Black Watches

Black-on-black watches, read our review of 17 "all-black" watches, including the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver, the Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute Blacksteel and the Ulysse Nardin Blacksea.

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Jun 7, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

WATCHES AND CARS

Need for Speed: 15 Watches Inspired by Auto Racing

Including classic models like the Rolex Daytona, TAG Heuer Carrera, and IWC Ingenieur, we take a look at 15 watches with designs influenced by motorsports.

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May 31, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

FEATURE:

The Definitive Baselworld 2018 Round-Up

Baselworld 2018 may have been significantly smaller than in previous years, but the show certainly made up for it with an exceptional range of new watches, quite a lot of them with much more budget-friendly prices than in previous years (which still cannot be said for the bratwurst stand outside the fair). WatchTime’s editorial team...

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Apr 7, 2018 by WatchTime

BASELWORLD 2018:

Blancpain Adds New Complications to Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Collection

Blancpain’s legendary Fifty Fathoms, which more or less established the blueprint for the modern-day dive watches that followed its debut in 1953, is the gift that keeps on giving for the venerable Swiss brand. The model begat an entire collection, one of the three pillars of today’s Blancpain, which continues to expand every year with...

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Mar 25, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

BASELWORLD 2018 PREVIEW:

Blancpain Updates the Villeret Quantième Complet GMT

With the opening of Baselworld, the world's biggest watch fair, less than a month away, more watch brands are offering up appetizers to the smorgasbord of new product introductions in March. The latest is Blancpain, with a preview of the revamped version of its Villeret Quantième Complet GMT watch.

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Feb 23, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

CHINESE NEW YEAR 2018

Rare Breeds: Five Limited-Edition Timepieces Celebrating the Year of the Dog

February 16, 2018, marks the start of the Year of the Dog on the traditional Chinese calendar. As in past years, a handful of luxury watch companies are celebrating — and reaching out to affluent Asian collectors — with limited-edition timepieces prominently featuring this year's animal on their artistically ambitious dials. Here are five we discovered.

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Feb 7, 2018 by Mark Bernardo

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