Blancpain Watches

Anyone who knows anything about watches has heard of the Rolex Submariner. It’s the Porsche 911 of the watch bubble, the Apple iPhone. There are cheaper watches, there are more expensive watches—it’s the sweet spot for someone looking for a balance of quality, heritage, functionality and price. It wasn’t the first, however. That accolade goes to Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms—and now they’ve tried to make it better.

In 1953, something strange happened. Two watches, by two different brands, materialised in quick succession: the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and the Rolex Submariner. One was a special forces military project, the other a commercially available product that could be purchased by amateurs and professionals alike. Here’s the strange part: despite being released within just a few months of each other, they were almost identical. How is this possible?

In a cake made of watch parts, the tourbillon is surely the cherry. It's revered, it's worshipped, it's—wait a second, what actually is a tourbillon, and why should I want one? Here to answer that question are a couple of watches from two of the oldest and best watchmakers in the world: Breguet and Blancpain.

The Fifty Fathoms has a long and distinguished history. A predecessor to both the Rolex Submariner and Omega Seamaster, it was first developed for the French Navy as a military watch in the early 1950s. As such, it was made to be a utilitarian tool, meant to survive extreme environments and to be the ultimate companion for serious underwater operations.