Blancpain’s New Watch Explores the Dark Side of the Lune
Swiss watchmakers love nothing more than doing things just to prove they can be done. The new Blancpain Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune, a professional-spec diver’s watch with a dial that displays the time, day, date, and phases of the moon, is a perfect example of the lengths they’ll go to push the envelope. The watch (like every other Blancpain Bathyscaphe) is rated to 300 metres underwater, a depth that only a few of the most serious divers will ever visit, and the standard for high-end diver’s watches.
Is there a situation when one could require an annual calendar and a moon phase at this depth? Even the Bathyscaphe’s makers would probably admit this is unlikely, but that didn’t stop them from creating it anyway. From its intricate Swiss-made movement to its midcentury design to its moody black ceramic case and bracelet — a first for the collection — this spirit of pushing limits is just one of many things to love about the newest Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune.
People have been tracking the cycles of the moon for millennia, and inventing devices to measure its phases for almost as long. In the early 20th century, Switzerland’s elite watchmakers succeeded in miniaturizing this technology into a wristwatch, and the moon phase watch was born. In the 1950s, another revolution was under way in the watchmaking world as the leading watch brands competed to create a new breed of timepiece to accompany undersea explorers on their adventures. Led by Jean-Jacques Fiechter, Blancpain’s co-CEO and himself a passionate diver, the brand’s entry to this race was the Fifty Fathoms, a diver’s watch with a lockable rotating bezel designed to assist in safely timing each dive.
Encouraged by the popularity of the Fifty Fathoms, which appealed to professional divers and fans of high-tech accessories alike, Blancpain began experimenting with new designs that combined the robustness of a diver’s watch with the refinement of a dress watch. The Bathyscaphe was born in 1956, and has remained a pillar of Blancpain’s collection ever since, evolving and improving while staying true to the clean lines and functionality of its original design.
Inside and out, the new Blancpain Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune embodies the latest phase of this evolution. At first glance, the newest Bathyscaphe collection stands out from its siblings thanks to a case and bracelet made from black ceramic. In addition to its alluring matte finish, ceramic is one of the most advanced materials in the modern watchmaker’s palette, as well as one of the most challenging. Durable, scratch-resistant, and hypoallergenic, ceramic is nearly five times harder than stainless steel, and 25 percent lighter. For all its advantages, however, it’s notoriously unforgiving to work with, requiring kiln firing at 1,400 C, machining with diamond tools, and painstaking polishing to achieve its satin-brushed finish.
The Blancpain Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune pairs a handsome ceramic case and bracelet with a blue sunray dial whose subtle gradient mimics the way light fades underwater. The inside of the watch is equally admirable thanks to the calibre 6654.P.4 automatic movement made in-house by Blancpain and visible through the sapphire caseback. With high-tech components like a silicon balance spring and traditional watchmaking finishing techniques including bevelling, circular graining, and snailing, it’s as much a work of decorative arts as an advanced piece of watchmaking craft.
Combined with its capabilities as a diver’s watch, this makes the Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune almost as unusual and exotic as anything you’d find under the sea. Thanks to its rarefied looks and useful annual calendar display, however, you don’t need a wetsuit or a dive card to appreciate its capabilities.
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