Blancpain has a proud history dating back to 1735, making it the oldest watch brand in the world. Over the centuries since its foundation, the company has resolutely continued its tradition of innovating and constantly pushing the boundaries of watchmaking.

Blancpain’s commitment to innovation is reflected in the fact that it develops new timepieces with innovative calibres every year, with world firsts often amongst them. In just over a decade, this quest to innovate has resulted in 43 new, exclusive and versatile calibres or manufacture movements, including complications such as the traditional Chinese calendar, the tourbillon carrousel, the carrousel with minute repeater, and the flying tourbillon with jumping hour and retrograde minute.

Creating new timepieces starts with the design engineers, who give their imaginations free rein. Between 2006 and 2018, they launched more than 43 different calibres or movements featuring a whole host of watchmaking innovations. These included a one-minute flying carrousel, a traditional Chinese calendar, a perpetual calendar with moon phases and an eight-day power reserve, an equation of time, an automatic one-minute flying tourbillon with an extraordinary 12-days power reserve, and many more. Blancpain understands how important it is to be able to simply adjust functions and protect movements from improper handling, so it has fitted its calendar mechanisms with devices that ensure adjustment during the automatic display change and prevent adjustments to the time when the striking mechanism sounds on the minute repeaters.

The innovations are not limited to the movements, however. Thanks to the patented invention of the under-lug correctors – a mechanism exclusive to Blancpain – it is no longer necessary to place these correctors in the middle of the cases, ensuring a sleek and smooth surface. A special tool is also no longer required as adjustments can be made with a fingertip. Further innovations in the Fifty Fathoms collection are the dark sapphire bezels with exceptional scratch resistance.

Blancpain’s expertise also includes artisanal techniques used in watchmaking. This applies, for example, to decoration, which has been one of the great watchmaking traditions for several centuries. Ornamentation on the tiny surfaces of a watch is an important part of watchmaking heritage: intricate embellishments engraved on the dials, movement bridges, the oscillating weights or case backs, miniature portraits in enamel and special enamelling methods, such as the champlevé, are just some of the techniques practised by the artisans in the Le Brassus workshops. Like Blancpain’s engineers, these craftsmen are always encouraged to go above and beyond, especially by learning new specialised artistic skills previously unseen in watchmaking, such as the Japanese techniques of shakudō and binchōtan, and even traditional damascening.

Exploring and protecting the world’s oceans is essential to Blancpain. Throughout the nearly 70-year legacy of the Fifty Fathoms dive watch, the brand has forged close ties with researchers, photographers, scientists and conservationists who work to preserve this precious resource. With this affinity has come a resolve to support key activities and initiatives that help protect the oceans, giving rise to the Blancpain Ocean Commitment (BOC). In recent years, the BOC has provided continuous support for oceanographic initiatives and established partnerships with leading organisations.