Close Up: Blancpain’s New 2014 Novelties
This year at Baselworld, Blancpain unveiled some stunning new novelties. The luxury watchmaker added four new models to its traditional Villeret collection, and also introduced us to a new Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe diving model. Here’s your close up look:
Housed in a 42mm case in either 18K red gold or platinum, this piece features a grand feu enamel dial with painted Roman numerals and hollowed sage leaf-shaped hands. The flying tourbillon, which features an enlarged carriage in order to create a better view of the balance and the escape-wheel, is visible on the dial at 12 o’clock. At its heart is the self-winding Calibre 242 tourbillon movement, which was developed in-house by Blancpain and boasts a 12-day power reserve. It is completed by a chocolate brown alligator strap lined with calfskin.
Housed in a 42mm 18K red gold or platinum case, this timepiece is the first perpetual calendar model in Blancpain’s Villeret collection. The white grand feu enamel dial features hours and minutes, as well as small seconds and a moon phase indicator at 6 o’clock, and three subdials with blued steel hands: the month and leap-year at 12 o’clock, the date at 3 o’clock, and the day at 9 o’clock. At its heart is the Calibre 5939A, the new self-winding perpetual calendar movement developed and produced in-house by Blancpain. It boasts an 8-day power reserve and will keep track of the varying month lengths and leap years involved in the Gregorian calendar without any need for adjustment until 2100. It will be sold in a solid wood box equipped with a winder, to keep the watch on time even when it is not being used. According to the manufacture, this box can be used as a cigar humidor once the interior is removed.
Housed in a 42mm 18K red gold double-stepped case, this is a three-hand watch with date display. The white grand feu enamel dial features hours, minutes, a central seconds hand decorated with the initials JB (for company founder Jacques Blancpain), and a date window at 3 o’clock. There is also a tone-on-tone “JB” logo engraved between the numerals IV and V, VII and VIII. The sapphire crystal caseback showcases the mechanical self-winding Calibre 1335, which boasts an 8-day power reserve. Designed and produced in-house by Blancpain, it features Côtes de Genève on the movement bridges and a honeycomb pattern on the oscillating weight. It is completed by a chocolate-toned alligator leather strap.
This 43mm diving watch features either a black ceramic case with a black dial or steel case with a grey dial. It features lines and dots for the hour-markers, as well as a minute hand, and a central chronograph hand with seconds indicated on the ceramic unidirectional rotating bezel. The dial also features the date at 4 o’clock and snailed chronograph counters. The key elements are coated with Superluminova to ensure readability at depths of up to 300 metres. At its heart is the new self-winding F385 movement, which is equipped with a column-wheel chronograph mechanism, a vertical clutch and a flyback function which allows the wearer to reset and instantly restart the chronograph by pressing the pusher at 4 o’clock. It is completed by a NATO fabric or sail canvas strap, or a metal bracelet for the steel version.
Photo credit: Haute Time.
