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Showing at WatchTime New York 2019: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms in Rose Gold with Blue Ceramic Dial


You missed them in Basel; come see them in New York. Blancpain, which skipped the Baselworld watch fair this year along with its sister brands in the Swatch Group, will once again be among the exhibiting watch brands at this year’s WatchTime New York collectors’ event on October 25-26. Among its highlight timepieces for 2019, which will be seen by U.S. audiences for the first time at the show, is the new rose-gold cased model of the manufacture’s Fifty Fathoms luxury dive watch, featuring an all-new blue ceramic dial.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms - RG - blue dial - front
This Blancpain Fifty Fathoms for 2019 is the first with a precious-metal case and a blue ceramic dial.

The watch’s 18k rose gold case measures 45 mm in diameter and features a satin-brushed finish. Water-resistant to 300 meters and 15.4 mm thick, the case is the first made of precious metal to be used in the Fifty Fathoms collection, which dates all the way back to 1953, when it made diving-watch history with its pioneering unidirectional bezel. Also a first in the venerable collection is the use of blue ceramic for the dial. Blancpain has previously used colored ceramic for the bezels of its Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe models. touting the material’s impressive hardness (six times that of steel), stability, and longevity. The ceramic dial debuting on this model boasts a shimmering cobalt hue for the sunburst-finish center of the dial and a more matte blue appearance for the surrounding chapter ring. The ratcheting unidirectional divers’ bezel has a scratch-proof domed insert made of sapphire. The dial’s hour markers and hands are coated with Super-LumiNova for easy legibility in low light or deep beneath the waves. A date window — an indicator first added to the Fifty Fathoms in the 2007 update — occupies the 4:30 position.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms - RG - blue dial - soldier
The dial’s sunburst-finished center is bordered by a contrasting matte-finished chapter ring.

Inside the case, Blancpain’s automatic manufacture Caliber 1315, a movement of proven sturdiness and a high level of chronometric performance, beats behind a clear sapphire caseback. Its three series-coupled mainspring barrels provide an impressive power reserve of 120 hours, or five days, while guaranteeing a constant supply of energy. Its rotor, with a historically influenced cutout to increase winding efficiency, is made of dense rose gold. The movement has a balance spring made of silicon, a material whose key properties — low density that makes it particularly light, strong shock-resistance, and imperviousness to magnetic fields — help to ensure the almost perfect geometry of the spring, thereby improving the precision of the watch. The use of silicon enabled Blancpain’s watchmakers to dispense with the soft-iron inner cage that protected the original Fifty Fathoms’s movement from magnetism and thus to allow the modern Caliber 1315 to put its meticulous haute horlogerie finishes on display. Caliber 1315 caliber is also fitted with a robust glucydur balance wheel, with square-head gold micrometric regulating screws to improve precision and allow for efficient adjustment.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms - RG - blue dial - back
The dense gold rotor of Blancpain’s manufacture Caliber 1315 is cut-out for maximum winding efficiency.

The new Fifty Fathoms model comes on a blue calf leather strap that echoes the maritime tones of the ceramic dial. If you’re interested in checking out this timepiece for yourself, along with those of 36 other exhibiting watch brands, don’t delay: order your tickets now for WatchTime New York 2019.

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