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Blancpain

Fifty Fathoms

A rare and attractive stainless steel diver's watch with "No Radiations" black dial, date, certificate and box

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In 1950, when the French Army formed a new combat unit composed of professional divers, it could not find a watch that would meet its expectations for underwater combat. Consequently the two founders of this unit decided to design the perfect tool watch for their missions. Their requirements were submitted to different brands, but only Blancpain whose then-CEO was a passionate diver, accepted the challenge.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was launched in 1953 and rapidly met with strong success amongst military and civilian divers. The present watch produced in the second half of the 1960s, bears the coveted “No-Radiations” symbol on its glossy black dial, used to indicate that the watch was for civilian use. The present watch is noteworthy as it was selected by Blancpain to represent the “Fifty Fathoms No Radiation” theme in their 2010 exhibition that commemorated the brand’s 275th anniversary. It is a superb example of the Fifty Fathoms model from the late 1960s and is presented today in excellent, unrestored condition.

Blancpain

Swiss | 1735

As the watchmaking brand with the earliest founding date, Blancpain remains close to tradition, concentrating on classical mechanical watches. Established in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, the Le Brassus manufacturer today continues to innovate with the development of high-quality calibres and is proud of their heritage, having never made quartz watches. One of the firm's greatest successes was the Fifty Fathom wristwatch introduced in 1953 — the vintage models of which are now highly coveted by collectors. The earliest dive watch available to the market, Fifty Fathom came out a year prior to Rolex's Submariner.  Another key model is the Air Command from the 1960s, considered one of the most mythical collector's watches due to their extreme rarity. Today, the firm specializes in creative innovated complicated timepieces. 

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