It’s been a big week for luxury watch brands in partnership with water-related philanthropic causes. On the heels of Hublot’s presentation of a 1.7 million check to charity: water from sales of its Big Bang Depeche Mode Special Edition, Blancpain presented, for World Oceans Day on May 8, the third in its series of Ocean Commitment limited editions, part of whose proceeds goes to funding projects that preserve and protect the world’s oceans. Here’s what you need to know about the new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Ocean Commitment timepiece.
The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Ocean Commitment III takes design cues from 2017’s MIL-SPEC model.
The newest Ocean Commitment watch ? referred to in shorthand by its initials, BOC III, for “Blancpain Ocean Commitment III” ? differs from the previous two in some significant respects while also incorporating some of their signature elements. Both previous editions were extensions of the Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback family, the first (from 2014) with a gray ceramic case and blue dial and bezel; the second (which debuted in 2016 at the WatchTime New York show) sporting a blue ceramic case and bezel and a gray dial. Each was equipped with Blancpain’s self-winding chronograph Caliber F385 and came in a contemporarily large 43.6-mm case. The BOC III hearkens more to 2017’s Tribute to Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC model, launched at Baselworld 2017, with a smaller case, at 40 mm in diameter, and a more ba...