Hands On: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s
Following its 1956 debut – three years after the launch of the Fifty Fathoms –, the style of Blancpain’s Bathyscaphe evolved with the times. The 70s saw bold dial markings with Arabic numerals and windows for the day of the week and date at 3 o’clock. The new Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s, which will be limited to 500 pieces, captures the allure of that model while incorporating Blancpain’s current technical advances.
During the 70s, Blancpain evolved its line of Bathyscaphe models, introducing a few diving watches with new aesthetic codes. These models featured a silvered dial ring with rectangular indexes and Arabic numerals radially arrayed every five minutes. Today’s Blancpain was inspired by this unique style in the creation of the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s timepiece. The dial of this new limited-edition watch captures the look of the 70s model with its day of the week and date indications at 3 o’clock. As with the vintage piece, this new model has a subtle graduated gray coloring, darker on the outer perimeter and infused with lighter tones toward the center, thus creating the perception of a larger dial size with enhanced readability.
While the aesthetics of this new timepiece draw upon history, the watch takes advantage of Blancpain’s latest technical advances. The 43mm satin-finished case is equipped with an unidirectional bezel featuring a ceramic insert whose indexes are filled with Liquidmetal.
Limited to 500 pieces, the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s is available with four different wristbands: a vintage-style antiqued leather, sail-canvas or NATO strap, as well as a steel bracelet.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s
Technical specifications:
Ref. 5052-1110-63A
Day Date 70s ∙ seconds ∙ unidirectional satin-brushed steel bezel with ceramic insert and Liquidmetal hour-markers ∙ dial with subtle graduated gray coloring ∙ self-winding
Case
Thickness: 14.25 mm
Diameter: 43 mm
Water-resistance: 30 bar
Sapphire crystal back
Interhorn space: 23 mm
Calibre 1315DD
Thickness: 6.6 mm
Diameter: 34.74 mm
Power-reserve (hours): 120
Jewels: 37
Components: 281
Limited edition: 500 pieces
The price for the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s starts form EURO 12,000 for the one with NATO or leather strap and EURO 14,500 for the one with bracelet.
