In the history of dive watches, a few names tend to stand out as pioneers and innovators: Rolex. DOXA. Blancpain.
The latter changed the world with its Fifty Fathoms, a timepiece that many consider — and rightfully so — to be the world's first true diver's watch. However, the Fifty Fathoms wasn't the only diver that the maison from La Brassus produced. There was also a scaled-down version called the Bathyscaphe, named after the manned submersible of the Swiss explorer-diver Auguste Piccard. More recently, Blancpain has revived the Bathyscaphe nomenclature, offering an entire line of sophisticated divers that pay homage to their vintage counterparts.
The particular Bathyscaphe that we have here is a Day Date 70s edition dating to circa 2019. Housed in a 43mm stainless steel case, it features a sapphire crystal, a signed crown, a unidirectional, rotating dive timing bezel, a sunburst, grey Super-LumiNova dial with matching fat syringe handset, and a brown leather strap with a Blancpain-signed pin buckle. It’s powered by the automatic Blancpain Calibre 1315DD with a whopping 120 hours of power reserve and a silicon balance.
In near-mint condition and shipping with much of its ephemera, this limited edition of 500 pieces is one of the coolest contemporary divers we’ve seen from a brand that was present at the beginning of dive watch mania.
Grab it while you can!