Blancpain celebrates Chinese New Year with a limited edition of the Traditional Chinese Calendar
Blancpain's Traditional Chinese Calendar is a watchmaking masterpiece combining the fundamental principles of the age-old lunisolar calendar stemming from Chinese tradition with the date according to the Gregorian calendar. To celebrate Chinese New Year, the Manufacture is unveiling a new limited edition of this Complication featuring the pig, which concludes the cycle of the twelve signs of the zodiac and heralds a year of abundance.
With the Traditional Chinese Calendar, Blancpain took up the challenge of mechanically combining two different interpretations of time. Five years of research and development were required to associate within this timepiece the main indications of the Chinese calendar as well as the date based on the Gregorian calendar.
This information can be found on the white Grand Feu enamel dial of Blancpain's Traditional Chinese Calendar. The animal of the year, the pig, appears in a window at 12 o'clock. Below is the double hours counter displayed in numbers and symbols. The ten celestial pillars and five elements are displayed at 3 o'clock, while two hands at 9 o’clock serve to read the month and date. They are complemented by an aperture dedicated to the leap months. The moon phases, which are used to determine the months of the Chinese calendar and represent an emblematic element of Blancpain's calendar models, are highlighted in a window at 6 o’clock. Finally, the date according to the Gregorian calendar, associated with these indications, is read off around the rim of the chapter ring by means of a blued steel serpentine hand.
This timepiece, which is even more complex than a perpetual calendar, is driven by the self-winding calibre 3638. This exceptional movement is housed in a 45 mm platinum case with a cabochon ruby on the crown. It incorporates five under-lug correctors – a patented Blancpain invention – enabling easy fingertip adjustment of functions without the need for a correction tool.
Issued in a 50-piece limited edition, this timepiece features a white gold oscillating weight engraved with the Chinese zodiac sign of the year, the pig. Blancpain's Traditional Chinese Calendar is also available in an unlimited red gold version with a guilloché oscillating weight.
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