Blancpain, like all of its brethren in the luxury segment of the Swatch Group, will not be exhibiting at the 2019 Baselworld watch fair, so this announcement doesn’t qualify as a “Baselworld preview” as it would have in recent years. Nevertheless, the venerable Swiss maison is getting a jump on the new year with a sneak preview of the newest member in its popular and growing Fifty Fathoms collection ? the first Fifty Fathoms Automatique model to be housed in a titanium case.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique in titanium (Ref. 5015-12830-B52A)
The watch’s case measures a hefty 45 mm in diameter and features a satin-brushed finish. Water-resistant to 300 meters and 15.4 mm thick, this robust but low-density titanium outer shell is not only substantially lighter than its steel predecessors in the Fifty Fathoms collection, but also highly impact- and corrosion-resistant, ideal for the deep dives that this luxury-sport timepiece was built for. Taking its design cues from the first Fifty Fathoms watch introduced in the 1950s, and its updated, modern-day descendants that debuted in 2007, the watch has a sunburst black dial and a ratcheting unidirectional divers’ bezel with a scratch-proof domed insert made of sapphire. The dial’s hour markers and hands are coated with Super-LumiNova for easy legibility in low light or deep beneath the waves. A date window ? an indicator first added to the Fifty Fathoms in the 2007 update ? occupies the 4:30 po...