Blancpain

Swiss watchmaker that dates its origins to 1735 and made the Fifty Fathoms diving watch.

Blancpain counts Jehan-Jacques Blancpain's workshop in Villeret in the Jura as its beginning, which makes it one of the oldest names in watchmaking. In the 20th century the firm made, among other things, wristwatches for other brands.

The Fifty Fathoms of 1953 was developed for the French navy's combat divers and became a model for diving watches with a rotating bezel. After the quartz crisis the brand was revived in the 1980s with mechanical watches only and is today part of the Swatch Group.

The Fifty Fathoms with a black dial, large luminous indices and a rotating bezel with a minute scale.

Mechanical movements; the brand has not made quartz watches since the 1980s.

• Clocks and watches
• Blancpain Fifty Fathoms