Watch Dandy

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is the original dive watch. Period. And with this latest Fifty Fathoms chronograph, Blancpain is hoping to raise over $275,000 to contribute to supporting marine conservation efforts. It’s the second time the manufacture has done a limited edition like this, but the Bathyscaphe Flyback Chronograph Blancpain Ocean Commitment II takes things a step further than its predecessor with an all blue ceramic case.

Hidden below the dial, the calendar complication holds centuries worth of fascinating technical development. From simple calendars to perpetual calendars, the development has never stopped. Today, the complication represents a desire to master the specificities of the multiple calendar systems in use worldwide. At the October meeting of the Horological Society of New York, Mr. Francois-Paul Journe himself will host a discussion on the history of calendars with a panel of world-class experts, including our own editor-in-chief Jack Forster.

We feel it’s our duty to inform the watch loving public of moments that could, in fact, go unnoticed to most, and would later cause great regret to said community. This is one of those #watchnerd public service announcements. There is a steel Patek Philippe 1518 in New York. I’ve seen it. And you should too, because who knows when you’ll get a chance to see this holiest of holies of rare Pateks again. It’s at the Phillips Geneva Watch Auction: Four highlights tour, which is here in New York City through October 17.

The Vacheron Constantin Harmony collection was very, very big news two years ago, when it debuted at the 2015 SIHH. Intended to kick off the company’s 260th anniversary celebrations (along with the super-complication pocket watch, reference 57260), the collection included several show-stoppers. From a collector and connoisseur’s standpoint, one of the most interesting of the new pieces was the Harmony Chronograph – a monopusher chronograph, featuring an entirely new movement, in a large-ish gold cushion case. Our first real hands-on look with the Harmony Chronograph was in the context of a Three On Three comparison between it, the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph, and Patek’s 5170G chronograph. Recently, Vacheron announced a slew of new versions of existing watches (as well as a new complete calendar), including an update to the Harmony Chronograph. This seems an appropriate time to revisit our initial thoughts and to dig into the new model.