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The Air Command collection

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Inspired by the Legend

Combining a resolutely vintage style with Blancpain's latest technical advances, the Air Command collection revives the history linking the Maison to 1950s military aviation.

In keeping with their forerunner, renowned as the most sought-after military chronograph of its time, the Air Command models are distinguished by their sophisticated design and offer two separate timekeeping features: a flyback chronograph function, and a countdown bezel.

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The rarest Blancpain timepiece of its era

In the 1950s, the United States Air Force was looking for a high-precision chronograph capable of meeting demanding specifications. Blancpain, which had already won over the American Navy with its Fifty Fathoms diver's watch, drew inspiration from it to develop a chronograph for the US Air Force. This timepiece was offered to American military pilots through the distributor Allen V. Tornek, for whom Blancpain is thought to have created a dozen watches as prototypes. The total production of Air Command chronographs was probably very limited.

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The only traces of the Air Command past that exist are the less than a handful that have sporadically appeared in the auction market, fetching stratospheric prices, and scattered memories from the descendants of the wider Blancpain family from the 1950s.