Perhaps the most interesting detail of the Blancpain X Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms watches’ launch is the use of a Sistem51 mechanical movement produced entirely by machines without the involvement of a watchmaker hunched over a bench in any stage of its manufacturing process.
Swatch’s Sistem51 automatic movement, which was first seen back in 2013, has already been used extensively in its own watches, bringing the price of mechanically-powered timepieces down to under £150 in some of its current collection.
To achieve this, Swatch simplified the usual engineering of mechanical movements, commonly using 100 or more components, and brought this down to just 51 bits that are factory-welded into place.
It has no regulator, but retains its accuracy — advertised as +/-7 seconds a day — after the time is set by a laser in the factory.
The simplicity of the architecture enables Sistem51 watches to maintain their power for almost four days without winding by the bi-directional rotor.
The Swatch x Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms watches cost £340.
Is the Swatch x Blancpain Fifty Fathoms value for money?
Incredible value for money or just another marketing gimmick designed to draw punters and scalpers into Swatch’s physical stores and breathe life into the Blancpain brand?
We will see, But even if it is predominately about marketing, what is wrong with reusing the MoonSwatch tactics that delivered spectacular results last year for both Swatch and Omega?
There are a couple of tweaks to those tactics. First, as discussed, is the use of a mechanical movement and 300 foot water resistance.
There is also anti-scratch coating on both the watch’s front and back glass and its bioceramic diver’s bezel.
This aims to solve one of the biggest complaints about the MoonSwatch: its scratchability.
The Blancpain homage may be £100 more expensive than the MoonSwatch, but you get a lot more for your money.
Secondly, the five watches in the collection have been unveiled days ahead of going on sale on Saturday, September 9, and there will be more stores stocking them.
In the UK, Swatch stores will have them on sale in London’s Covent Garden, Battersea Power Station and Oxford Street; Glasgow’s Buchanan Street; a pop-up in Manchester’s Trafford Centre; and Princes Street in Edinburgh.
They will not be sold online, which was one of the fiercest complaints from people struggling to buy the MoonSwatch from its limited number of physical stores.
The five models in the Swatch Fifty Fathoms line represent the five great oceans of the world, and are said to have taken their colours from “magnificent nudibranchs”.
For those less familiar with the ocean depths than Blancpain CEO Marc Hayek — a passionate semi-professional diver — a nudibranch is, and here I quote Wikipedia, a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs noted for their often extraordinary colours.
The Arctic Ocean model comes in orange and beige, the Pacific’s is yellow and black, the Atlantic’ comes in blue and grey, the Indian Ocean’s is green and orange and the Antarctic Ocean’s uses grey and blue.
The design is based on the original 1953 Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which is this year celebrating its 70th anniversary.
