Watch brands love to celebrate the anniversaries of historic models, so it’s no surprise that Blancpain has chosen to mark 70 years since the arrival of its signature ‘Fifty Fathoms’ diver with a triple whammy of commemorative releases.
Although Panerai made watches for navy combat divers during WWII, most people regard the unveiling of the Rolex Submariner at the 1954 Basel watch fair as the arrival of the first professional underwater watch. But two years earlier an elite dive unit called Les Nageurs de Combat had been set-up by a couple of rugged French naval officers, Commander Robert Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud. They needed decent kit, so the pair put a call through to Blancpain to request some high-spec watches after hearing that the firm’s boss already had a dedicated dive model in development.
The storied history of an icon
Enthusiastic recreational diver Jean-Jacques Fiechter had started to design the watch after coming close to fatally running out of air as a result of mis-timing an ascent – and Maloubier and Riffaud liked what they saw, asking only for the addition of a soft iron cage to protect the movement from magnetism.
The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms went into service in 1953 after successful testing by Les Nageurs de Combat, but remained something of a military secret until 1956 when it appeared in Jacques Cousteau’s celebrated underwater documentary ‘The Silent World’. Sport diving was well and truly on the up and, as well as being listed for sale in SCUBA equipment catalogues, the Fifty Fathoms was made available to rent from specialist dive shops.
But it couldn’t save Blancpain from falling victim to the so-called ‘Quartz Crisis’ of the ‘70s, leaving the Fifty Fathoms to sink without trace – until 20 years ago. By then the brand belonged to Swatch Group, and CEO Marc Hayek – another dive fan – sanctioned a 50th anniversary revival of three limited editions of 50 pieces each across the territories of Asia, Europe and North America.
Demand for the anniversary specials soon led to the Fifty Fathoms being fully reinstated to the Blancpain catalogue, and now it’s a top seller that’s available in multiple variations.
Introducing the 70th anniversary Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
Hayek’s 2003 three-launch theme has been re-visited to celebrate this year’s 70th anniversary, with three, 70-piece ‘Series I’ editions being dedicated respectively to the EMEA, Asia Pacific and Americas regions.
Dubbed ‘Act One’, the 210 watches were released last month quickly sold-out. They were closely based on the look of the 2003 model, but with the 42mm case size of the original (modern versions have been 40mm or 45mm in diameter), a dial marked ‘Series 1’ and a sapphire crystal case back revealing a platinum ‘70th Anniversary’ winding rotor.
And today on the Rangiroa Atoll in French Polynesia, Blancpain unveils ‘Act Two’ in the form of the most technically advanced Fifty Fathoms yet. Called ‘Tech Gombessa,’ the watch – which is not a limited edition – has been in development for five years and has been extensively tested by Hayek and professional diver Laurent Ballesta, founder of the Gombessa project which, backed by Blancpain, carries out extreme underwater expeditions around the world.
Inspired by the deep and prolonged dives which the team regularly undertakes, the ‘Tech Gombessa’ is unique in being capable of measuring immersion times of up to three hours thanks to a special bezel linked to a dedicated hand that completes one dial rotation in 180 minutes.
In low light conditions the hand and the markers on the ceramic bezel glow green, while the regular hands and the block-shaped indexes are coloured orange but glow blue, with the dial being finished in light-absorbing ‘absolute black’. Hayek and Ballesta have filed a joint patent for the hand-wound movement’s three-hour countdown mechanism, which sits inside an equally serious case.
Although a stonking 47mm in diameter, it’s feather-light as it's made from top grade titanium and is fitted with a helium release valve that ensures the watch (water resistant down to 300 metres) is suitable for saturation diving and use in a hyperbaric chamber. The titanium-reinforced rubber strap is another first for a Fifty Fathoms, being an integrated design that’s screwed to lugs attached to the inside of the case’s central barrel.
Blancpain says four prototypes of the watch were tested in the Mediterranean in 2019 and 2021, when they were worn for a month at a time in a hyperbaric chamber by divers on the Gombessa V and VI missions during saturation and closed-circuit re-breather dives. Tough as it is, however, the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa still gets a transparent case back revealing a special oscillating weight stamped with the Gombessa Expeditons logo.
Available for pre-order now, the watch costs £24,700 and will be delivered in a special Peli presentation case that’s shock-proof and water resistant… but not quite as handy to have with you in the water as the Tech Gombessa, obviously. Details about ‘Act Three’ will be released in September. Watch this space.
