SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
FOCUS — WATCH YOUR TIME USA — 20
A fish to water When Blancpain unveiled the Fifty Fathoms in 1953, it paved the way for the modern dive watch. Relaunched in 2007, it is the symbol of the brand’s commitment to ocean conservation.
“Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made.” Who would have thought these verses from Ariel’s song in The Tempest would go down for posterity not just in theatre but also in the marine world? Not because young navigators learn these words by heart, but because divers immediately associate “Fathoms” and “Fifty” with an essential piece of kit; one on which their survival can depend. The year is 1953 and Blancpain has introduced the world to the Fifty Fathoms: the first dive watch of the modern era. Reliable, legible and robust, protected by three patents, it fulfilled virtually every criteria of the ISO 6425 dive watch standard forty years before it was even introduced! Shakespeare’s “fathom five” became Fifty Fathoms in reference to one of the watch’s standout features, namely its water-resistance to 50 fathoms or 300 feet: considered the safe limit for the pioneering divers of the early 1950s. The fabulous thing about any iconic watch is that it has a story to tell, and the Fifty Fathoms is no exception. Its story is one of daring and determination. A story of man and ocean that begins with JeanJacques Fiechter. A writer and historian, Fiechter was also, and more importantly for this story, Chief Executive of Blancpain from 1950 as well as a regu-
lar amateur diver, a sport he practiced with a club in the south of France. One day, despite years of experience, he mistimed his ascent and found himself at fifty meters depth with almost no air in his tanks. The incident prompted him to think about the importance of a watch while underwater, and how such an instrument could survive in what is a hostile environment for any mechanism. There were no precedents, nothing that might serve as a blueprint. In those days, amateur divers didn’t even bother with watches. And so he sat down with a blank piece of paper and set about designing a dive watch. Great minds think alike The first issue Fiechter had to address was waterresistance. He came up with a double O-ring system whose two gaskets would prevent water from entering through the crown, which wasn’t screwed into the case, even if it were pulled out.
Another O-ring sealed the caseback that was designed in two parts so that the pressure underwater pushed the back tighter against the seal. The bezel rotated so the zero marker could be aligned with the minute hand to calculate dive times. Fiechter also devised a locking mechanism to prevent an accidental knock to the bezel from erroneously extending dive time with potentially fatal results. Having resolved these three fundamental requirements with patented solutions, the next question was how to ensure information was easily read off the watch when underwater. Fiechter’s answer was to increase diameter to 41mm, and to coat hands and markers with lume for legibility in low visibility. For the movement, the choice of an automatic calibre did away with winding, thus keeping handling of the crown to a minimum and reducing wear on the gaskets. Sealing the movement inside a soft-iron inner cage protected it against magnetic fields. The Fifty
GO M B ES SA I I , F R EN C H P O LY N ES IA . TO DAT E , T H E R E H AV E F I V E
BL ANCPAIN FIF T Y FATHOMS BAR AKUDA. BL ANCPAIN IS RE VISITING
GOMBESSA E XPEDITIONS, ALL UNDERWRIT TEN BY BL ANCPAIN. THE
ONE OF I TS D I V I NG WATCHES FRO M THE END OF THE 1960S, THE
FIRST TOOK PL ACE IN THE INDIAN OCE AN IN 2013 IN SE ARCH OF THE
BAR AKUDA . THE 500-PIECE 2019 EDITION RE TAINS THE FE ATURES OF
COEL ACANTH, A PREHISTORIC FISH. THE SECOND OCCURRED IN 2014
THE ORIGINAL VERSION WHILE MAKING THE MOST OF THE TECHNI-
IN FAK AR AVA , FRENCH POLYNESIA . THE AIM WAS TO SHED LIGHT ON
CAL INNOVATIONS RESULTING FROM BL ANCPAIN’S LONGSTANDING
THE ENIGMATIC AGGREGATION OF THE MARBLED GROUPERS.
E XPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF SCUBA DIVING.
