Blancpain’s ‘Fifty Fathoms’ homaged by Watchdives, defines itself as "The first modern diver's watch created by a diver, adopted by pioneers, patented by Blancpain. There is eternity in every Blancpain".
Born out of a near-death experience of then-CEO of Blancpain, Jean-Jaques Fiechter, an ardent diver, who during a 50-metre dive in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, discovered he was out of air, swore to make a safe diver's watch. Named 'Fifty Fathoms' it signified the maximum safe diving depth for scuba diving at that time.
Released in 1953, its three patented innovations made it a benchmark:
1) Double-sealed crown - for water-resistance even if the crown was pulled out under water;
2) Lockable bezel - to avoid accidental rotation. The diver needed to push the bezel down with three fingers and turn, and;
3) Channelled seal with an additional metal ring in the screw-down case back - to avoid misalignment of the sealing rubber ‘O’ ring when the case back was closed.
Additionally, it had a soft inner iron case to protect the movement from residual magnetism.
French officers and World War II veterans Bob Maloubier and Claude Riffaud, assigned by the French Admiralty and Ministry of Defense to set up the French Combat Swimmers Corps, (later the French Force Elite Diving Corps), found Fifty Fathoms their saviour for legibility and reliability even at a depth of 100 metres! One watch lost by a diver at 53 meters was found functioning normally 24 hours later!
The Fifty Fathoms also became official diving equipment for Navy Seals of the US Navy, the German Navy, and then as the watch of choice among international professional divers. Although being the finest in its genre, it remained highly underrated.
Internationally famed diving legend Jacques Cousteau selected Fifty Fathoms watches for his diving team, for the feature movie 'Silent World' honoured with both a Hollywood Oscar and a Cannes Palme d’Or.
Presently, among all homages to this horological legend a great majority of enthusiasts peg the Watchdives offering as the best for its overall presentation and build quality.
Watchdives offers two variants for Blancpain's 1953 model, the FK (mineral glass crystal, glossy bezel) & FS (sapphire crystal with AR coating, matte bezel). Common to both are ceramic bezel inserts, double domed crystals, and a choice of C3 (green) or BGW9 (blue) lume.
C3 appears more vintage in daylight with its yellowish tint, mirroring vintage Blancpain Fifty Fathoms today. BGW9 lume is white in daylight, as was the design specification for the original watch, for maximum visibility at depths.
Both variants are powered by Seiko's NH38 automatic movement. The FS has an additional model with a date window at the 6 o'clock position, using a Seiko NH35, paying homage to a subsequent Blancpain model.
Both variants have silver/titanium-blasted 316L stainless steel cases, for an even matte finish (as in the US Navy stealth mission model Milspec-2), 120-click unidirectional bezels, signed, screw-down crowns, and unsigned screw-down case backs; claimed water resistance is 300 metres, approximately 1000 feet.
The matte black dial, has printed, lumed indices with Arabic hour markers at every quarter of the dial. The hour, minute and seconds pointers have lume inserts. Graduation on the bezel is lumed. A printed minute track with 5-minute graduations in Arabic numerals travels the circumference of the dial. At 12 o'clock is the Watchdives logo and at 6 o'clock, 'Automatic' and '300m=1000 feet', the movement type and water resistance, respectively.
Watchdives has done well in replicating the design of the hours, minutes and seconds pointers as well as the font for the indices.
The mineral crystal has surprisingly high transparency and in the absence of any coating, offers clear visibility in low or varying levels of light. Thanks to its double-domed design, the time is visible even from an acute angle.
Bezel movement is crisp with no lateral movement or wobble, aligning perfectly with the 12 o'clock marker. The coin-edge upper section provides a satisfactory grip. The signed, screw-down crown also offers good grip for time adjustment. Historians indicate that the very first Fifty Fathoms watches had a triangle at the '0' position on the bezel, later replaced by a diamond/lozenge shape, available on this homage range.
My single gripe is the FK's glossy bezel - should have been matte. Hence 4 stars.
This is a medium-sized watch scaled down for daily use – case dia. 40mm, thickness 14mm, lug width 20mm (up by 1mm over V1 models) and lug-to-lug 48mm (the mentor was 52mm, for high visibility). The downward sloping lugs and NATO strap further aids its compact appearance. The homage weighs approximately 83 grams with the standard strap. The lugs are drilled for easy strap swaps.
Its utilitarian appearance may not appeal to many, save those looking for homages paying tribute to exclusive timepieces from horological history. Are you read...