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Blancpain Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition
The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com is the historically-minded Fifty Fathoms we've always wanted to create. No date, no extra flourish, just a beautiful and detailed recreation inspired by a legacy that helped give birth to the dive watch as we know it today. Limited to just 250 units, this model has a brushed steel case that measures 40mm, a sapphire bezel with luminous scale, a matte black dial, and offers 300 meters of water resistance. In addition, you'll notice the lack of both the aforementioned date display and brand signature commonly seen engraved into the nine o'clock case flank. Replete with drilled lugs, the Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com presents a minimal, true-to-form expression of one of Blancpain's best known dive watches. More specifically, the new Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com draws from the MIL-SPEC Fifty Fathoms, expressly designed for naval forces. The most significant element from this variant of the Fifty Fathoms is Blancpain's two-color, split moisture indicator. This innovation has become a defining element in the history of Blancpain's dive watch design. Watches were often supplied to Navy divers on a per-mission basis. Therefore, service history and field use were often unknown. So, the presence of a moisture indicator, which changes from blue/red to full red when exposed to water, helped provide a fast visual reference of the watch's suitability for use underwater. For a modern iteration of a mid-century military-derived dive watch, the Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com captures the spirit and functional prowess of the original design while ensuring all we've come to expect from a modern high-end sport watch. Fitted to a black nylon NATO-style strap, the Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com is casual, comfortable, and certainly not lacking in toolish military charm. Befitting a watch in tribute to such a technical achievement, the Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com features an innovative automatic movement: the Blancpain 1154. With a silicon balance spring and 100 hours of power reserve, this specific iteration of the caliber 1150 offers a no-date execution and a lovely view via the sapphire display case back.
The original Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was born after World War II, when the then-novel world of SCUBA diving was becoming more and more accepted by both hobbyists and professionals alike. The model was the leading modern dive watch and for years, remained one of the only divers to be truly watertight and to have a functional rotating bezel. One reason the Fifty Fathoms was so functional is simply because it was developed by a diver, for divers. After running out of air while diving and being forced to make an emergency ascent, Blancpain's then-CEO Jean-Jacques Fiechter set out to design a watch that could help track how long a diver had been breathing from their SCUBA system. In defining the qualities of his ideal dive timer, Fiechter inadvertently helped to shape the future of sport watches, and the Fifty Fathoms became the inaugural blueprint for the dive watch as we know it today. In addition, the Fifty Fathoms was continually tested throughout development by diving professionals, from diving instructors in the Southern France clubs to French combat swimmers. These divers knew their lives depended on the functionality of the watch, and their inputs allowed for the development of a tool that fully satisfied the needs of professional divers. In particular, the MIL-SPEC Fifty Fathoms would soon prove itself as a combat-ready tool for the U.S. Navy, and it's here where we find not only a hugely collectible and very special chapter in the lineage of the dive watch but also the inspiration for the new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC Limited Edition for fashiontourbillon.com.
