blancpain fifty fathoms aqualung

Dear All!I spent a day now at the Basel fair, after recovering from my Flyback excitement yesterday!I was most excited to see how many news they had. It seems that Marc Hayek could shed much fresh wind in the Blancpain ateliers. Generally, the finish of the movements has improved, on the collection Leman blued screws are now standard. Additionally, and many will cheer now, we'll getting more display backs!But let me start from the beginning. These are the most interesting and eye-catching news, more during the next days. I'll start with the Anniversary moonwatch and the Leman Collection of the more sporty watches:Celebration of 20 years moonphase watch from Blancpain1983 the first moonphase from Blancpain was presented, which started a complete boom for moonphase and which was a catalyst for the growing interest for mechanical watches. Blancpain's booth this year is stamped by this anniversary: 'Blancpain is now 20 years on the moon (I hope the Omega guys do not read this!)!'. The celebration moonphase watch, a limited 38mm Villeret (300 pieces, not a Leman but a Villeret) in red is presented on a moon landscapes:The watch comes in a moon landscape sculptured grayish box manufactured in Switzerland's last existing aluminum workshop. The box bears the number of the watch on the back:The watch itself is a gorgeous simple and elegant moonphase watch with display back and a very elaborated finish, not only the engraved moon face, but also the Geneva stripes, the heat-blued screws and the anglage is just a little bit more ornate than we are used from Blancpain. What a gem:The engraving is demonstrated by Mr. Huygenin, the man who also takes care of the minute repeating automaton watches. He is a self-employed engraver an jewellry designer. In the pic he is sitting on the left. In the middle you see Edmond Capt, master watchmaker and contructeur of the famous Piguet 1185 chronograph and the Valjoux 7750. He is now head of Piguet and Lemania:Sonneur de DianeNext impressive watch is the long awaited sonneur de diane, or Reveil, if you want to call it like this. A 40mm alarm watch with GMT function:The hammers are not knocking at the case, instead they are hitting an acoustic spring, just like a minute repeater. The alarm function is coupled to the 2nd timezone (displayed as the 'center time'). At 3 o'clock you find the reveil time, at 9 the 'home time' and at 6 the small seconds. Additionally it has a power reserve for the alarm function and an on/off display.The movement is a complete new construction. If take a close look you'll see that it has a free-sprung balance without regulator. The sound is most pleasant, but not too loud. The price is about 28.000CHF in red gold:Flyback RattrapanteNow, and this was a surprise for me: A new Flyback! Now we have a Flyback with Rattrapante in a slightly larger case, 40mm in steel:2100 Double DateNow also the 2100 series comes with a double date, and with a display back. It comes also in a military dial, but I have no pic here. Steel case, 38mm. You easily see the new finish.Well, that's it for today. I hope I was not to confusing. And sorry about the pics, the light is terrible there! Tomorrow I'll show you the novelties for the Le Brassus collection, and on Saturday the new Ladies watches!Hope you enjoyed this here very much! All the best from Basel,Magnus4/3/03

Thanks to Blancpain Managing Director Mr. Marc Hayek, we have received permission to show you the 2003 watch. This is the fourth year in a row that Blancpain has been a sponsor of the Monaco Yacht Show, and pictured here are the 2003 watches.Please see www.blancpain.com and www.monacoyachtshow.com for more details7/17/03