Category: blancpain

Buying Guide – The 10 Best Watches of 2018 from EUR 10,000 to EUR 25,000

As the end of the year is fast approaching, we continue with our “best of 2018” buying guides. After the top 10 watches below EUR 2,000, followed by 10 watches between EUR 2,000 and 5,000, and finally, our pick of the best watches of 2018 priced between EUR 5,000 to EUR 10,000, we now move to true luxury watches (or even the start of the high-end category for some) with our 10 favourite watches of 2018 in the 10k to 25k Euros range. And yes, big money means big pleasure here.

6 years ago

A Technical Perspective – Understanding Bezels and all the Different Scales

A bezel is a simple but extremely effective tool letting you perform all sorts of tasks: from timing a dive to calculating the average speed of a motorbike, from gauging your fuel supply or the distance of incoming fire to consulting the time in Japan, a bezel gets the job done and jacks up the functionality of your watch. The trick is deciphering what all the markings on the bezel or on the dial (in that case, we talk scales) represent and how to use them.

6 years ago

Introducing – Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Bucherer Blue Edition

Customized, special editions sold only through a single (branch of) boutiques is a common thing, but few do it as regularly as Bucherer. The Swiss watch retail-house has introduced several striking collaborations – no less than 25 in total with 14 different brands. To name just a few, the Tudor Black Bay Bronze, the IWC  Portugieser Chronograph Classic or the H. Moser & Cie Venturer Small Second for instance. All received the “Bucherer Blue” make-over and next in line is the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Bucherer Blue Edition.

6 years ago

Entry Price – The Most Accessible Watches You Can Get From Established Brands (Rolex, Omega, Patek… and many more)

“Everyone has a Rolex. If you don’t have a Rolex by the time you reach 50, then you have clearly failed in life.” Some of you – at least our French-speaking readers – might remember this outrageous statement pronounced by Jacques Séguéla as the advertising tycoon tried to defend Nicolas Sarkozy’s bling-bling style on French TV. If owning a Rolex is the sine qua non of success for some, it’s a good time as any to review the entry-level prices of watch candidates from the leading brands. 

6 years ago

Hands-on – Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Perpetuel 6656 – A Classic among Classics, Modernised

A classic among classics, the Le Brassus-based manufacture revisits its perpetual calendar complication with moon phases in 2018, in a larger 40mm case size and a choice of two metals: 18k red gold and stainless steel. With subtle design tweaks on the dial and a secured movement, the new Villeret Quantième Perpétuel 6656 models are presented in a more contemporary case size and in a more ‘democratic’ choice of steel… Is Blancpain on the hunt for younger customers?

6 years ago

Hands-on – Blancpain Villeret Métiers d’Art Binchōtan (and the Manufacturing Process Explained)

With its Métiers d’art collection, Blancpain has been exploring new artistic and expressive horizons, nurturing traditional skills with different expressions. Case in point: recently, the craftsmen of the Metiers d’art workshop in Le Brassus presented Shakudo dials. Of Japanese origin, Shakudo is an alloy principally composed of copper and gold, which acquires a dark patina between blue and black, according to variations in its composition and texture. This year, Japan has once again become an inspiration to Blancpain. One of the manufacture’s latest artistic creations features a Binchōtan dial.

6 years ago

Buying Guide – 5 of The Most Iconic Dive Watches You Can Buy in 2018

In the world of watches, there’s a puzzling but immense attraction of men for dive watches. Should it be the adventurous look? The toolish design, the masculine, sporty, robust attributes…? For multiple reasons, various examples of dive watches have become some of the most iconic timepieces ever created – even if nowadays most of them […]

6 years ago

Hands-on – Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Complet GMT – Discreetly Complex

Despite what you may see on Instagram and Facebook, there are still plenty of watch connoisseurs who enjoy wearing a more traditionally styled watch. Something like the sophisticated yet practical Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Complet GMT. Introduced earlier in the year, this new model epitomises the classic aesthetic Blancpain is well known for, bringing together two genuinely useful complications in the form of the complete calendar and the GMT function. An ideal choice for the business traveller, we recently spent some time getting to know this latest version better.

6 years ago

Hands-on – Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Annuel

Today we’re taking a closer look at the new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Annuel. This year, the well-known dive watch debuts an unexpected twist, with the inclusion of an annual calendar complication. The result is a quirky watch with a quirky display, and yet, it somehow works. (Arguably it’s not the quirkiest watch in Blancpain’s line-up this year – that honour goes to the Bathyscaphe Day Date 70s). Hardcore dive enthusiasts and elitist complication collectors alike will no doubt shun this ‘cross-over’ timepiece. The dive-watch obsessed broader market, however, might just have a different opinion.

6 years ago