Blancpain Finally Gives Fifty Fathoms Fans What They’ve Been Asking For

Last year marked the 70th anniversary of Blancpain’s iconic Fifty Fathoms dive watch, and to celebrate they launched three new watches in three acts. Act One was a contemporary take on the Fifty Fathoms in stainless steel, Act Two was a high-tech modern piece geared toward pro divers in titanium, and Act Three was a historical MIL-SPEC interpretation in 9K Bronze-Gold. Despite the critical acclaim, collectors seemed to have been left wanting.

There has been an appetite for a contemporary sub 45mm diameter, non-limited-edition version of the Fifty Fathoms for many years, and for 2024 Blancpain is finally making it happen with new 42mm-diameter Fifty Fathoms Automatic models in the permanent collection. They will be offered in both red gold and corrosion resistant grade 23 titanium. The latter is like grade 5 but has lower oxygen, nitrogen, and iron content. It also has better ductility and fracture toughness, which, according to Blancpain, makes it excellent in saltwater environments.

Powering these new Fifty Fathoms is the in-house Blancpain Caliber 1315 automatic movement. Its construction includes three series-coupled barrels that can provide a class leading five days of power-reserve. It is elaborately decorated, at least compared to most divers, and has an 18K red gold oscillating weight sporting an NAC coating, whose design is inspired by the rotor of the original 1953 Fifty Fathoms. All of this, of course, is visible through the screw-down sapphire display back.

There are 2 dial color options for both materials, blue and black, with matching sapphire capped unidirectional bezels. Precise measurements are 42.3mm in diameter and 14.2mm in thickness, down from 15.5mm on the 45mm version. All are available on Tropic textured rubber straps, NATO straps or sail-canvas straps in matching colors. A titanium bracelet rounds off the range dedicated to the case in the same material.

This new size will surely appeal to a great many collectors and while titanium has been used as a case material for some time now, it appears to be gaining a lot more traction as of late with the higher end luxury brands. Pricing starts at $18,400 for the titanium models and $30,000 for the red gold, and both are available now. Blancpain