blancpain

Blancpain L-Evolution Phase de Lune 8 Jours Watch

I must attest to the fact that I have no idea what this watch design is all about. In fact, the entire concept of the Blancpain "L-Evolution" collection more or less evades my understanding. That being said, I highly appreciate the brand's willingness to experiment versus just re-hashing what worked in the past. This quite fancy version of an already fancy watch has the well-made in-house made mechanical movement visible through the dial. Though much of what you see are discs through a sort of semi-opaque treated sapphire crystal.

Still, the mechanics are fascinating. The Calibre 66R9 movement is an automatic with 192 hours of power reserve, has an annual calendar with the date, month, and day of the week, as well as a moonphase indicator. The latter doubles as a subsidiary seconds dial. The L-Evolution collection attempts to mix sport with class (I think), which might explain the large Roman numeral "3" and "9" o'clock indicators that appear comically large. The watch case itself is 43.5mm wide in 18k white gold - being matched to a black reptile strap. I am glad to know that the case is water resistant to a respectable 100 meters.

Even with all the crazy stuff going on the dial, Blancpain made sure that the watch had full, lumed hour markers. I have a feeling that this Blancpain L-Evolution Phase de Lune 8 Jours watch will be easier to read in the dark - than in the light. Price is $43,900.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 8 jours, blancpain, de lune, l-evolution, phase, watch

Blancpain Saint Valentin Watch For 2011

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Thankfully we are no where near Valentine's day - yet. The oft-hyped holiday strikes fear into the hearts of many men poised with the daunting task of offering their mate not only the perfect gift, but the perfect day. Swiss Blancpain gives men another reason to worry with the 2011 version of their "Saint Valentin" watch for Valentine's day. I wrote about last year's model here. The 2011 watch is very classic in style, and even the iconic Blancpain features are subdued. The watch is a triple calendar style with moon phase. Meaning it has an annual calendar complication, the time with a subsidiary seconds dial, and a smiling moon phase indicator.

The watch is mostly white in tone, with a 35mm wide steel case, bezel lined with 49 diamonds, more diamonds on the mother-of-pearl dial, and two hearts. No Valentine's day watch can resist the inclusion of red hearts! The first is used as the hand on the date indicator dial on the watch face, and other other is a bit higher-end on the luxury scale being a heart-shaped ruby located on the bezel at the 12 o'clock position.

Blancpain includes their in-house made Calibre 6763 automatic movement that is visible through the sapphire caseback window. A watch like this feels like a men's model turned femme - which inherently it is. The watch doesn't exclude girliness, but it rather a stately gift for a mature and sophisticated woman (that has a penchant for fine mechanical watches). Blancpain will make only 99 pieces of this 2011 Saint Valentin watch and it should be available early next year. Interestingly enough, it comes in a box that is little locked treasure chest. There is an accompanying white gold heart (wearing a corset) that is opened to reveal the key. Personally I would want a written letter from her saying that whatever is in the box will satisfy her Valentine's day expectations.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2011, blancpain, valentines day, watch

Blancpain L-evolution Carrousel Sapphire Watch Hands-On

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

A trend over the last few years has been to take complex tourbillon movements and make them either skeletonized or bare bones. This watch from Blancpain is a perfect example. Although Blancpain nowadays prefers the carrousel versus the tourbillon. The different? Well it is minor to say the least, but Blancpain wants to set itself apart by using this type of rotating escapement carriage versus a tourbillon. In operation they are both similar looking. If you want to know more about the difference between a tourbillon and a carrousel you can read here.

The watch movement, while highly decorated, is certainly bare bones. What you mainly see (aside from the hands) is the carrousel and the mainspring barrel. The rest of the watch seems to be the winding gear assembly and the gear train. The movement uses only sapphire crystal plates. This is what gives the movement its incredible floating looking. The sides of the 18k red gold case are also set with sapphire crystals for an additional view into the movement. Due to the shape of the case, the watch is included in Blancpain's newer L-evolution collection. This watch will likely prove to be a hard to find niche object, but will be a marquee look for the Blancpain carousel watches. Priced at around $240,000.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Blancpain Carrousel Saphire watch

Tags: blancpain, carrousel, l-evolution, saphir, sapphire, watch

Blancpain Watches 'Showing' Event In Los Angeles

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Blancpain will soon have a watch showing event on October 19th, 2010 in conjunction with the Tourbillon watch store. Both are part of the Swatch Group. While the event will be hosted by the Tourbillon store that is on Rodeo, it will take place at the SLS Hotel on 465 South La Cienega Blvd. The event will be from 6-9pm. It should be interesting, and will likely show off some new pieces. Important for watch lovers is the fact that the Blancpain name will soon be applied to most of Swatch Groups best movements. Likely to be a nice event for Los Angeles based watch lovers.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: blancpain, event, los angeles, show, tourbillon, west coast

Blancpain L-evolution Semanier Grande Date 8 Jours Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

I have to admit that I don't totally understand the styling philosophy behind the Blancpain L-evolution range of watches. Debuting last year, the collection is typified by really large Roman numeral hour markers at 9 and 3 o'clock, and has somewhat open dials. The pieces are always well made and unique - but I am just not sure what Blancpain is going for. This L-evolution Semanier Grande Date 8 Jours watch is interesting, high luxury, but with a style that is uniquely experimental. The calendar based watch has a big date and periphery style date, with a day of the week indicator - making this an annual calendar. It also has a power reserve indicator that is built into day of the week dial - which is suavely done.

The Calibre 37R8G is interesting and in-house made by Blancpain. It has 8 days of power reserve, but is also an automatic. The dial of the watch is highly three-dimensional, set in an a case that is either in steel (with gray dial) or 18k red gold (with a black dial). Priced between 17,550 euros to about 29,250 euros.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: blancpain, date, gold, grande, l-evolution, semanier, watch

Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Blancpain Edition Car

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Luxury Cars & Autos

The luxury watch world has a slew of car themed watches, but are there are watch themed cars? Well now there is. The relationship between Swiss Blancpain and Italian Lamborghini has blossomed to the point that a bar has been born. Specifically the Gallardo LP 570-4 Blancpain Edition. Blancpain President Marc A. Hayek already races Lambo cars and the brands have participated together in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo race series for at least two years now.

As special limited edition, the car, in black (with yellow trim), has some special Blancpain imagery on it, as well as a custom body kit. Both interior and exterior components are in carbon fiber, while the curb weight of the car is only 2954 pounds. Note the conspicuous Blancpain logos on and in the car. The car contains the standard LP-570 570hp 5.2 V10 engine, while this Gallardo enjoys a 3.4 second 0-62 time.

No word on price and how many of the autos are to be produced. Click the "READ MORE" link before for more details from Blancpain.

Gallery: Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Blancpain Edition Car

Tags: blancpain, car, edition, gallardo, lamborhini, lp-570-4, watch, watches

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Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph Complete Calendar Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Arguably the best collection in Blancpain's lineup, the Fifty Fathoms gets a "blue" job and a chrono-calendar set of complications added to it. I got to check out the blue version of the Fifty Fathoms watch a while ago before it launched. The decorated metallic blue dial is lovely (especially matched with the blue bezel with sapphire crystal over it), and the addition of the classic set of dials is an interesting addition to the dive watch theme. Does anyone diving need a chronograph and annual calendar, and a moon phase indicator? They probably wouldn't want it - but hey, who is actually gonna be diving with this thing? Blancpain themselves describe it as a "yachting watch." The first few of the pieces were actually debuted at the Cannes International Boat Show. So the "point" of the new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph Complete Calendar (yes, I am sorry, that is actually the name of it) makes more sense now.

I wish they could have named it something better. It is as though watch brands ask you to have more of an emotional investment in their watches than they do when naming them. These names are unoriginal, and what are called "merely descriptive." Inside the watch is a Blancpain in-house made automatic calibre 66BF8 movement. It features a 12 hour chronograph, date, day of the week, month, and moon phase indicator. The watch itself is 45mm wide in a steel case with a specially treated blue canvas strap (to match the blue theme). Really a nice piece that will satisfy collectors looking for a complicated and "worldly" version of the Fifty Fathoms.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph Complete Calendar

Tags: 5066F-1140-52B, blancpain, blue, calendar, complete, fifty fathoms, watch, watches

Blancpain 500 Fathoms Watch Hands-On

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

It was highly anticipated, as well as highly controversial. The 500 Fathoms was to be the much beefier version of the classic Fifty Fathoms model from Blancpain. But was it a good idea? I first wrote about the Blancpain 500 Fathoms watch here. The current iteration of the Fifty Fathoms was cherry. A beautiful watch, in a robust case, with a killer in-house movement. Rumors were that adjusted properly, the movement could be accurate to within about a second a day - a number that is very good for a mechanical watch. For whatever reason the 500 fathoms was borne. In a larger case at 48mm in size, the 500 Fathoms has a unique look with torpedo hands and a titanium case that is water resistant to 1000 meters (not exactly 500 fathoms). Since the watch was initially announced, the dial has changed a bit. Here you get to see exactly what the production version looks like. The dial is extremely retro diver with a twist. The almost sunburst pattern on the dial is a thematic modern interpretation of the atomic symbol that was on the original Fifty Fathoms watch. Large Arabic numerals on the dial are lume filled, together with the hands. As you can see, early worries about legibility problems haven't come to pass.

Gallery: Blancpain 500 Fathoms Watch

Tags: 500, blancpain, fathoms, hands-on, review, titanium, watch

Continue reading “Blancpain 500 Fathoms Watch Hands-On”

Blancpain Expands Into A Serious Watch Movement Manufacturer

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

This is a really, really interesting branding exercise - and I have no idea if it is a good idea. Frederic Piguet is (I mean, was) Swatch Group's higher-end movement maker. Sort of like a fancier version of ETA. Most of the Swatch Group's higher end brands used Frederic Piguet movements (higher-end brands include Breguet, Jaquet Droz, Blancpain, etc...). That isn't to say that Frederic Piguet made all the movements for these brands, but did many of them. Problem was that all but the most hardcore watch aficionados knew what Frederic Piguet even was. So telling people that their new luxury watch had one of these movements in it required them to first explain what Frederic Piguet was in the first place. Also, I am sure there was some corporate redundancy, etc.. That Swatch was looking to clean up.

So Swatch Group made the big decision to have Blancpain take over Frederic Piguet to make all of the movements. From a facility and logistical standpoint I don't know what will actually change. I understand that Blancpain will "take over the existing manufacturing structures." From a branding standpoint, Blancpain will now be thrust forward as a watch maker as well as an even more serious watch movement maker. Since the economy turned sour, watch brand groups have been carefully looking at each of their brands to figure out what purpose each one has. This is a lot like what GM did when it axed a bunch of its redundant, pointless brands (I am looking straight at you Oldsmobile and Pontiac) in the current market.

Swatch Group announced the move as a "consolidation." This would explain the desire to remove redundancy, but at the same time you usually don't see a movement maker be absorbed by a watch brand. So the decision to have Blancpain look like the big daddy movement maker was highly strategic (most likely). Swatch is trying to give each of its brands a lot of importance. While Blancpain has done a good job of making nice watches, over the last few years the brand has lost a bit of its zest. This moves is an attempt at making them exciting once again. Plus, Blancpain can now assert themselves as a pretty much totally vertically integrated movement manufacturer - something that the Swatch Group doesn't really have in comparison to competitor the Richemont Group.

The new entity will be known as the "Manufacture Blancpain," and (as I understand it) will be making movements for the Blancpain brand, as well as other high-end Swatch Group brands. I am interested to see how the next few years for this new entity will unfold, and the effect it will have on the public's image of the Blancpain watch brand.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: blancpain, frederic piguet, manufacture, movement, swatch group

Blancpain Saint Valentin 2010 Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Timepieces / Watches

Here is a sketch direct from Swiss watch maker Blancpain showing their upcoming Saint Valentin 2010 watch. This will be their annual women's watch for St. Valentine's day next year. It is certainly an usual looking watch. While it does display the requisite heart for the occasion, the dial looks like a tear drop framed by a bending snake as the bezel. Hopefully that tear drop indicates tears of joy. The diamonds all over the bezel structure look almost like reptile scales - sorta cool.

The dial is in pink and white mother-of-pearl mixed nicely together. Nice round-cut diamonds are placed on the dial as hour indicators, while a tenth diamond cut like a heart sits as the 12 o'clock indicator. The watch case itself will be larger than expected at 33mm wide and 48mm tall - made out of 18k white gold. The bezel will be set with an additional 404 diamonds and 66 pink sapphires. Over 2 carats of stones total. Inside the watch is actually an automatic mechanical caliber 615 Blancpain movement, which is less common for such jewelry timepieces that tend to have quartz movements. In fact, according to Blancpain, the caliber 615 is the smallest automatic mechanical watch movement in the world. This little luxury for the day of love should be available by next February as a limited edition of just 14 watches.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 0081-5560-52, 2010, Blancpain, saint, st, valentin, valentines day, ValentinesDay, watch

Vladimir Putin Hands Over His Blancpain Watch To Russian Metal Worker Upon Request

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Charity

In a ballsy move, a metal worker at a Russian weapons factory asked the powerful former Russian President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for his wrist watch. More surprising is that Viktor Zagaevsky actually got Putin to hand over the watch, for good.

The story is simple. While in the Russian town of Tula, Putin was touring a weapons factory and doing a speech on the economy of the region. Putin is extremely well regarded in Russia, and his actual place in politics has been debated as it sometimes seems that he does more than merely sit as a former Prime Minister. Another area of inquiry regard how Putin can afford his lavish lifestyle. Russian politicians report their annual incomes, and while they aren't minuscule, they certainly don't allow for a collection of luxury Swiss watches - among other luxuries that Putin enjoys (such as sport diving in a submarine). While the questions are valid, they are a bit naive. As a former Prime Minister, and currently an extremely powerful man in Russian, Putin is bound to have "alternative" sources of income of wealth upon which to draw from. The former KGB man is no novice at secrecy. Still international questions arise as to Putin's actual status in Russia. Nevertheless, the Russian people seem not to mind. Putin is considered a national hero and symbol of Russian pride. He is fiercely nationalistic.

It was not the first time that Putin was known to gift a watch, but he is not exactly known for it. No one is to my knowledge. Putin is known as an avid fan of luxury watches, and is seen wearing them even while engaging in sporty activities where even most luxury watch owners would sport nothing more than a Casio due to fear of timepiece harm.

The watch that Putin happened to have on at the time was his well-loved Blancpain Aqua Lung Big Date, as he has been seen wearing it often. It is a steel cased watch of a modest size and very thin for a mechanical timepiece. It has a big date complication and water resistant to 100 meters with a soft black leather strap. New, the watch goes for about 6,000 euros. For Viktor Zagaevsky, the watch will certainly have a great deal of sentimental value, not to mention be a new luxury for someone who likely has never purchased more than a bargain watch. I feel that Putin made a prudent decision as the good-will attached with the move is invaluable.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com

Tags: aqualung, blancpain, gift, russia, russian, vladimir putin, VladimirPutin, watch

Blancpain 500 Fathoms Releasable Version Watch Gets Shown

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

It has been a long road since Q1 of last year when Blancpain teased our eager eyes with the new 500 Fathoms watch. This month the watch will finally see its official release. So far there has been a special one-off 500 Fathoms watch for the Only Watch 2009 charity auction, a limited edition version to celebrate the release of the 500 Fathoms Watch at the Cannes Boat Show, and now the standard watch, that itself seems to be in a limited edition of 500 pieces - at least for the first run.

The biggest change to the final version of the watch from the early renders is in the dial colors (note the nice looking reversal of the colors for the Cannes limited edition). Notice the gray on black sections of the watch? Those gray portions initially shared the same dull green lume color as the four large Arabic numerals. Still, the gray sections are lume covered - so they will glow after being charged by light. There should be lume also in the rotating diver's bezel. Starting with the newer 50 Fathoms watch, Blancpain has has one of the best looking and most durable diver's bezels available, as they are covered with curved sapphire crystals. You also have the optional rubber straps that are uniquely done for the 500 Fathoms watches (seen in the image). Both this and the water resistant canvas strap ought to deal with the 1000 meter water resistance of the watch quite nicely when spending time "in the deep." I have yet to see a brand new metal bracelet for the line. If one comes out, it will look interesting no doubt.

You will finally be able to find the Blancpain 500 Fathoms watches out now where Blancpain watches are sold. It is even a stark departure from their outgoing luxury dive watch line (50 Fathoms and Aqualung). Movement is the in house made automatic Blancpain Caliber 1315 movement with a 5 day power reserve. Price is likely to be over $12,000, but we will see how Blancpain responds to the current stubbornness to pay retail luxury prices.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2009, 500 fathoms, 500Fathoms, blancpain, dive, diver, diving, limited edition, LimitedEdition, watch

Blancpain 500 Fathoms For Only Watch 2009

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Not that the newer Blancpain 500 Fathoms watches needed improvements, but Blancpain needed to do something to it if it was going to be used as their unique showpiece watch for the Only Watch 2009 charity auction that will be held this month in Monaco at the yacht show. The release of the consumer version of the new Blancpain 500 Fathoms watch is imminent and the final publicity push for it is this special "piece unique" model for the well-watched charity auction. Aside from "1/1" badging all around, the Only Watch 2009 watch will feature a special dial with carbon fiber and specially skeletonized sections with a semi opaque view of the date wheel. The aperture for the date itself is at 6 o'clock.

The special watch shares the 48mm wide titanium case and awesome Blancpain manufacture Caliber 1315 automatic movement. Having a special watch like this is a great way to get attention for the new line as it will become widely publicly available soon after the auction is over. We can look closely to see what price this one-off Blancpain watch will fetch.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2009, 500 fathoms, 500Fathoms, auction, blancpain, only watch, OnlyWatch, watch

Blancpain 500 Fathoms Cannes 2009 Limited Edition Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Once again Blancpain is hanging out at the Cannes (32nd annual) International Boat Show. This time to officially release their previously announced Blancpain 500 Fathoms timepiece. In addition, they will release a special limited edition version of the Blancpain 500 Fathoms watch in celebration of the event. The limited edition of 50 pieces watch features a specially engraved caseback. I really love the 500 Fathoms' rotor. Not only do you get a propeller shape, but you also get hand perlage polish on it, and a different style of polish on the bottom that is meant to look like bubbles. The Caliber 1315 movement is extremely accurate and the watch itself is 1000 meters water resistant. The case is 48mm wide and in titanium.

I don't think that the dial of the limited edition is any different than the standard model. That is OK, as I have been a fan of the new dial look for a while. The torpedo hands and lots of lume are an interesting choice for the luxury brand. The titanium make up of the watch will make for a light and strong timepiece, but I am concerned about the case's ability to get scratches. The rotating diver's bezel has a sapphire crystal over it. Prices will likely be around $15,000. The International Boat Show in Cannes will be open September 9-14, 2009.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Blancpain 500 Fathoms Cannes 2009

Tags: 500 fathoms, 500Fathoms, blancpain, cannes, diver, limited edition, LimitedEdition, watch

Blancpain Super Trofeo Chronograph for Lamborghini

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Luxury Cars & Autos

This year Lamborghini raced full-speed ahead into new territory: racing. Unlike its arch-rival Ferrari, Lamborghini doesn't have a deep heritage in motorsports, but launched the Super Trofeo series this year to let its most affluent customers exercise their need for speed on the race track. 30 specially-prepared Gallardo LP560-4 race cars are used in the series, which is sponsored by Swiss watchmaking atelier Blancpain, which has in turn launched a special-edition chrono to commemorate its participation. In stark contrast to the wildly-styled Lamborghinis, the Blancpain Super Trofeo Chronograph is an exercise in understatement...at least in the world of automotive-themed wristwatches. The case is covered in Diamond Like Carbon (DLC), the straps made of the same Alcantara suede used in the race car's cockpit, and the face is dominated by the 9 and 12 o'clock indicators. Two pushbutton actuators – one red and one carbon – operate the bespoke Calibre F185 automatic chronograph movement. Only 300 examples of this limited-edition timepiece will be offered, and you can expect the racers themselves to snap up the first thirty.

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