Blancpain X Fathoms
The passionate and experienced diver knows: the number of really good diving watches is limited. The majority of the so-called divers are not supposed to really be worn under water. These divers should rather show off on the wrist, pretend to be “though”. Today large and sporty looking wristwatches are as popular as SUVs and we all know that the latter are rarely driven aside the asphalt and concrete highways on though trails.
Blancpain´s “Fifty Fathoms” definitively belongs to the group of genuine diving watches. The “Fifty Fathoms” was originally developed in 1953 for French elite Navy divers and was together with the Omega “Seamaster” and the Rolex “Submariner” the ticking mother of modern diving watches.
Recently the “Fifty Fathoms” was adapted to fit the need of increased sizes on the wrist, but the “Fifty Fathoms” has maintained its basic characteristics over the years: its accuracy, reliability, robustness and the perfect readability of the time above and under water.
Blancpain cultivates and cherishes its heritage. No wonder, since Blancpain-CEO Marc Hayek has been a passionate diver since the age of 12.
Blancpain X Fathoms
It was Marc Hayek who gave the impetus for the “X Fathoms”.
This diver should be a revolution, not an evolution!
When presented in 2012 during Baselworld the Blancpain diver with the X-factor outshined what we had seen so far. In many ways, nota bene!
It was and still is the largest diving watch available today!
The 55.65 mm titanium case, waterproof up to 300 meters, houses a total of 385 mechanical components. The Blancpain automatic caliber “1315”, with 120 hours of power reserve, is the base calibre. The in-house developed depth gauge is mounted on top of it and operates up to 90 meters with an accuracy of 30 cm.
The basic membrane, which provides the pressure information for the complex mechanics of the depth gauge, is designed for saline water with a mean salt content. If you buy the watch you can also order a version for fresh water or especially saline water.
The scaling of the depth gauge is divided in two parts: one shows 0 to 90 meters, the second 0 to 15 meters.
When you start diving both hands of the depth gauge (with the orange and blue tip) are simultaneously moving. At 15 meters the blue hand will stop, the orange hand now can be used up to a depth of 90 meters.
In addition a hand with a red tip is moved along the 90-meter-scale to register the maximum depth of the dive.
The blue hand of the more detailed 15-meter-scale will again move when a depth of 15 meters is reached.
The diver now benefits from this detailed 15-meter-scale, since for decompression stops the Blancpain “X Fathoms” can be used as a real instrument.
In particular the depth for the so-called safety-stop at approximately five meters is prominently shown in orange and very easy to read. Now guys this feature is really cool: To time the necessary five minutes of the safety-stop you can start a retrograde five-minutes-countdown with the push-button at “10 o’clock”. You will always know how long your safety-stop will last. Very cool!
Good to know: The two depth-gauge-hands can only be reset by the push-button, which is protected by a bracket at “8 o’clock”.
Blancpain-CEO Marc Hayek was particularly interested in the retrograde five-minutes-countdown feature of the “X Fathoms”, since it gives his watch a particularly useful and also a security-relevant aspect.
The Blancpain “X Fathoms” of course cannot and should not replace a modern diving computer. But until today it is the most astonishing and sophisticated diving watch ever built.
If you ask yourself why it is so big, let me quote Marc Hayek: “Of course we could have packed the technology into a smaller case, but I wanted to build a real instrument and perfect readability is one of the key features of a good and reliable diving watch.”
The Blancpain “X Fathoms” is sold for 37.610 Euro including 19 % VAT and manufactured only in very small quantities.
