Swatch has broken the rules again. The watchmaking firm that once saved the Swiss watch industry (during the crisis caused by Japanese quartz watches, this firm activated mechanical watchmaking by promoting its fun colored watches) and recently surprised with its Omega x Swatch, returns to pay tribute to an icon of Swiss watchmaking. It's Blancpain's turn. Specifically, one of its great icons, the Fifty Fathoms, born exactly seventy years ago, revolutionized the world of watchmaking as it was the first watch designed especially for scuba diving.
It was for this reason that a submariner was behind the design and manufacturing of this very special piece launched in 1953 that sought to satisfy all his needs during his underwater explorations.
Since then this iconic Blancpain has become the pioneering professional timekeeping tool for marine corps and professional (or non-professional) submariners around the world.
The new collaboration, as unexpected as it is applauded (there is already a queue in Swatch stores around the world), celebrates the seventieth anniversary of this diving tool through five models in which the color and Swatch touch (cheerful, always young and always fun) are more than evident.
This is a highly desired but not limited collection that has been named Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms in reference to Swatch's Scuba diving watches in which all the specific characteristics of the original Fifty Fathoms can be perfectly identified.
They do not lack superior water resistance, exceptional readability, mechanical movement, safe rotating bezel and anti-magnetic protection in any of these five Swatch models that come with very special names, all in reference to the oceans of our planet. They are the Pacific, Arctic, Atlantic, Indian and Antarctic Ocean which, like all Blancpain Scubas, can dive into deep waters of up to 91 metres. And also the 91 is a nod from Swatch to Blancpain. It refers to fifty fathoms, which are equivalent to 91 meters or 300 feet (a historical measure of depth used in the Anglo-Saxon world).
The back of each of these very special Swatch features a magnificent and colorful animal that lives in our five oceans: the nudibranch (scientific name: Nudibranchia). These animals are digitally printed on the movement's rotor, the part that automatically winds the watch when you move your wrist. In the Arctic Ocean watch we find the Dendronotus Frondosus nudibranch, with soft and subtle shapes.
In the Pacific Ocean the Chromodoris Kuiteri is shown, which with its bright colors like the sun, evokes the warm and azure waters of the ocean in which it is found.
The Atlantic Ocean features a Glaucus Atlanticus, whose dark blue colors pay homage to the wild seas. But… don't be fooled! Although it aims to embody the fragility of marine life, this species is poisonous and is nicknamed the “blue dragon.”
The Indian Ocean, with its Nembrotha Kubaryana, suggests the hypnotizing colors of the corals, as well as those of its ocean waters, as exuberant as they are dazzling. Finally, the Antarctic Ocean displays a Tritoniella Belli, whose appearance as an iceberg struck by a storm emulates the mystery and charm of the icy polar waters. In addition to these nudibranchs, which actually live in the oceans that give their name to the different models, each watch has a representation of the ocean from which it is inspired.
