Blancpain and HODINKEE present a new Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Limited Edition
Blancpain has created for HODINKEE a modern expression of what is widely considered one of the most important military and dive watches ever made. The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Limited Edition for HODINKEE is produced in a limited run of 100 pieces and is available exclusively in the HODINKEE Shop as well as the New York and Las Vegas Blancpain boutiques.
In the early 1950s, Blancpain CEO Jean-Jacques Fiechter started to develop the ultimate tool for diving – a watch – as he himself was an amateur diver. So when Captain Robert Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud of France’s premier maritime special operations unit, the Nageurs de combat, approached Fiechter in 1952 about a similar need (but for military standards), they worked together to create a dive watch that would stand up to the demands of combat swimmers, and in 1953 the Fifty Fathoms was born.
To satisfy the growing civilian sport diving segment, Blancpain introduced the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe in 1956. Without sacrificing performance, it focused on wearability and versatility. The case was slightly downsized from the classic Fifty Fathoms and allowed Blancpain to continue to experiment with design innovation and technical advancements that appealed to all types of divers – both military and civilians. This resulted in the many iterations of the Fifty Fathoms under the Bathyscaphe name from the ‘50s until the ‘70s. The Bathyscaphe was reintroduced in 2013 and continues to be part of the Fifty Fathoms Collection. It remains one of the most recognizable modern dive watches in the market today.
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