Blancpain Fifty Fathoms

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique 45mm Titanium Blue 5015-12B40-O52A

Fifty fathoms is about 91 meters, and in the early 1950s it was the depth Blancpain’s CEO, Jean-Jacques Fiechter, set as the target for a new kind of watch. He was building it with two French Navy officers, Captain Robert “Bob” Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud, who led the country’s first combat swimmers and had no watch they could trust. Together they made one that was easy to read in murky water, with a bezel that locked so it couldn’t be knocked, and a crown sealed with a double O-ring. The French Navy adopted it in 1953, and the dive watch has looked like that ever since.

This is the modern version in titanium, from 2020. The 45mm case is satin-brushed, light and tough, with a unidirectional bezel with a sapphire insert and a sapphire caseback. It’s rated to 300 meters. The dial is a blue sunray with large luminous Arabic numerals and batons, and the date is inside the dial. Inside is Blancpain’s Caliber 1315, an automatic with a five-day power reserve, so a watch that’s been sitting over a long weekend is still running when you pick it up. It’s on a blue sailcloth strap with a pin buckle, which matches the dial.

It’s in excellent pre-owned condition and comes with its original box and papers. The travel box has the typical degradation of the soft-touch material inside, which is common on Blancpain cases of this era.