Well, that didn’t take long. A mere two-and-a-half weeks after the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms collaboration was announced as Swatch’s Bioceramic follow-up to the MoonSwatch, the oldest extant luxury watch brand announced a new iteration of its flagship dive watch that is all at once a throwback to some of its most desired vintage references and unlike any Fifty Fathoms we’ve ever seen before. Here’s why it’s the perfect move for the brand.
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The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 3
The name of Blancpain’s latest model doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it is a limited release that follows in the tradition of other limited Fifty Fathoms models we’ve seen in the past. With the brand celebrating the OG dive watch’s 70th anniversary in 2023, Blancpain has already rolled out two other limited-edition anniversary models earlier this year: Act 1, which is more like a scaled-down version of the modern Fifty Fathoms in stainless steel, and Act 2, the oversized and feature-packed “Tech Gombessa” in Grade 23 titanium. This anniversary in three “acts” follows a similar formula to the one Blancpain used when it released the 50th Anniversary Fifty Fathoms in three separate “Series” back in 2003.
The new watch takes the bulk of its styling cues from one of the most collectible vintage styles of the Fifty Fathoms, the various “Mil-Spec” references produced as some of the first iterations of the watch. Authentic examples are incredibly rare and expensive, yet the new 70th Anniversary model brings much of their charm into the present day thanks to its working moisture indicator on the dial, vintage Blancpain logo and throwback indices and handset. Where it differs from vintage examples, and from other modern Fifty Fathoms, is in its use of case material, as the 70th Anniversary Act 3 watch is crafted from 9ct Bronze Gold. The watch has also been sized down from the modern Fifty Fathoms’ 45mm case size, clocking in instead at 41.3mm — the same size as the brand’s original divers from 1953.
