Long name, simple watch: the Day Date Seventies is the best from Blancpain this year – but it’s not without its issues

By Chris Hall

There’s a bit of a trend emerging at Blancpain whereby we get one watch released every year that cuts through the rich, luxury-with-a-capital-“L”, fois gras with truffle shavings menu of haute horlogerie and metiers d’art that makes up the bulk of Blancpain models like a glass of crisp tonic water with a dash of lime. One watch a year that reminds everyone what’s great about this brand. 
Last year it was the Tribute to Fifty Fathoms Mil-Spec, a 500-piece limited edition watch that stood out for its orange and white water-tightness indicator. This year it’s the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Day Date Seventies, another heritage-inspired model that takes its design cues from an early 1970s Fifty Fathoms reference, and is again limited to 500 examples. 
Whoever’s in charge of snappy names at Blancpain can be politely shown the door – I’m going to refer to it as the Day Date Seventies from now on – but when you actually get up close with the watch itself, the news is all good. Here’s a well-executed piece of retro-throwbackery, a dial design that’s taken everything cool about the original and run it through the pencil sharpener until every index, line and facet absolutely sparkles.
The colours are rich and deployed sparingly – the sunburst gradie...