Blancpain Watches

About Blancpain Watches

Blancpain has a long history of firsts. In 1926, Blancpain developed the first ladies’ automatic watch. A few years later in 1932, Betty Fiechter took over as the first female CEO of a leading watchmaker. In 1953, they developed Fifty Fathoms as the first modern dive watch, which was adopted by the French Navy as their official timepiece. In 1956, Blancpain created the smallest round ladies’ watch, the Ladybird.

During the 1980s and '90s, Blancpain continued to innovate and, in 1983, they debuted the smallest moonphase display. A few years later in 1987, they released the smallest minute repeater and thinnest self-winding chronograph. 1988 marked Blancpain’s thinnest split-seconds chronograph. A year later, they unveiled the first self-winding split-seconds chronograph and the thinnest flying tourbillon wristwatch. Finally, in 1991, they presented the most complicated watch of the time, the 1735 Grande Complication watch. It displayed the six “masterpiece” complications: ultra-thin, full calendar and moonphases, tourbillon, split-seconds chronograph, minute repeater, and perpetual calendar. Blancpain produced the watch in a limited run of just 30 pieces. The inventive spirit of Blancpain has continued into the new millennium with Fifty Fathoms at the core of the brand’s catalog.