Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tourbillon

The Fifty Fathoms. In 1952, two French naval officers, Commander Robert Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud were looking for a divers watch to be used by the French Ministry of Defense elite unit called "Les Nageurs de combat", a special operations unit of the French Navy, specializing in underwater operations.

After surveying the watches in the market, Commander Maloubier and Lieutenant Riffaud found no diver's watch that could meet their specifications. Because of this, the two officers contacted Blancpain Rayville SA, in Villeret, Switzerland, and together they created the the Fifty Fathoms.

A updated Fifty Fathoms continues to be built today. However, with the advent of dive computers and the high price of Fifty Fathoms watches, it is unlikely that any of Blancpains Fifty Fathoms will actually be used as a divers watch. Instead, Blancpains Fifty Fathoms are more likely to wind up as a highly valued piece of a watch collectors or enthusiast collection.


Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tourbillon. The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms now comes in several vairieties, which depart from its diving heritage, which includes a flyback chronograph and a tourbillon. While retaining the unidirectional rotating bezel that has become the standard design for a divers watch, the tourbillon version contains a highly complicated movement with a long 8 day power reserve.

What is a tourbillon? The tourbillon was invented in 1795 by Abraham-Louis Breguet. Mechanical timepieces are affected by gravity. In order to counter the effects of gravity, Abraham-Louis Breguet built a watch that counteracted gravity by rotating the balance wheel of a watch or clock through 360 degrees. This is called a tourbillon.

This is accomplished by mounting the escapement in a rotating frame, called a "carriage" which turns at regular intervals, usually once a minute. This rotation reduces the positional errors of the movement.


At that time almost Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon almost all watches were pocket watches which stayed in one position most of the time. The only time a pocket watch changes position is when it's taken out by the owner to check the time.

The effect of gravity on a watch or clock kept in one position all the time, like a pocket watch, is particularly noticeable on the escapement, especially the balance which rocks back and forth. This can lead to inaccuracies. Breuget's solution was the tourbillon.

Today, most tourbillons are found in wristwatches. People tend to move their arm as they go about their day, which provides the changes in position required to offset the effects of gravity on the watch movement. This negates the need for one a tourbillon. Today tourbillon watches are valued as a display of watchmaking prowess, in the same way complication watches are desirable.


Case and bezel. The Fifty Fathom's comes in a 45mm case, and is available in stainless steel and rose gold. The Tourbillon version displays the movement inside the watch through a small window at the 12 o'clock position and a sapphire crystal caseback.

The Fifty Fathom's has a sapphire scratch proof bezel. The use of sapphire crystal on the bezel also allows for another interesting feature. The quarter hour, five minute and minute markers on the bezel are luminescent.

About Blancpain. Blancpain is a Swiss watch manufacturer, founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jaques Blancpain. The influx of inexpensive quartz watches from Japan and China during the early 1970s put the company on the brink of bankruptcy. It was only thanks to the intervention of Jean-Claude Biver, an Omega executive with a love of fine timepieces, that the company was reborn in 1983. Blancpain is now owned by the Swatch Group. Blanpain produces fewer than 10,000 watches a year, with each watch is made by a single watchmaker.