Tribute to our esteemed friend Jean-Jacques Fiechter

With unlimited dedication and generosity, Jean-Jacques Fiechter poured his heart and soul into his passions, engaging in several careers at the same time. His roles as company director, pioneer of recreational diving, historian and novelist, as well as father were among the many challenges he took up with admirable success, as well as incomparable humility. His achievements did not prevent him from continuing to invest in watchmaking and the oceans, two worlds that he deeply cherished. Jean-Jacques Fiechter never ceased to accompany Blancpain throughout his life, giving our Brand the benefit of his experience and his precious memories, well beyond his years in office. Since 2002, he has held a place of his own within Blancpain. The arrival of Marc A. Hayek at the head of our Manufacture enabled two parallel destinies to intersect. Jean-Jacques Fiechter found in Mr. Hayek a "soul mate" with whom he had much in common. He notably witnessed the rebirth of the Fifty Fathoms under the impetus of Mr. Hayek, driven by a passion for diving and the oceans like his own. He also saw the creation of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment, an initiative that paid tribute to the contribution he had made to the oceans by facilitating their exploration with the Fifty Fathoms. For Jean-Jacques Fiechter, an eternal enthusiast, the ocean floor was a "(...) Wonderland (...) open to all those who, like Alice, know how to go ‘through the looking glass’".