As soon as I heard about the Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms, I was interested. The actual Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is one of my favorite watches, but with a price tag in the neighborhood of $16,000 and a mammoth case size of 45, the modern version of the watch simply is not an option for me. But a $400 Swatch collab in a more wearable size that features all of the design hallmarks of the real Fifty Fathoms? Sign me up!
It wasn’t long before my enthusiasm was tempered by skeptics. The watch community can be a bit of an echo chamber sometimes, and a narrative quickly formed on the MoonSwatch follow-up.
“It’s an overpriced plastic toy!”
“It has a disposable movement!”
“It’s not a real watch!”
That last one is the narrative that seemed to take hold. This idea that the Scuba Fifty Fathoms is not a real watch because it’s plastic. That it’s just a novelty. (I know it’s Bioceramic, but it looks, feels and behaves like plastic.) Never mind the fact that many of the people making these claims are the same folks who drone on endlessly about how amazing their plastic G-Shocks are. But I digress.
I wanted to see for myself how the Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms functioned as a “real watch.” Not as a toy or as a fun novelty, but as an actual everyday watch that I would wear just as I would my Omega Seamaster. So how did this $400 spin on one of the most iconic watches ever hold up?
Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms: What We Think
If you love the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms but find the original too expensive, then the Scuba Fifty Fathoms is a worthy diversion. The watch is lightweight, looks good and is fun to wear — and it’s undeniably a thrill to see the “Blancpain” and “Fifty Fathoms” on your wrist. It also has a movement that performs admirably, and the watch itself is more rugged than some people would like to admit — it also boasts bezel action and lume that put many more expensive brands to shame.
It’s very thick, though, especially when worn with the included NATO strap. The plastic crystals covering the dial and bezel scratch very easily, and a sapphire upgrade would be very welcome, even if such a change would increase the price. Then there’s the movement, which will need to be swapped out by Swatch when it dies in several years — a hassle many won’t want to deal with.
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Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms
The follow-up to the blockbuster MoonSwatch sees Swatch put its affordable spin on another luxury watch icon, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms diver, resulting in a surprisingly capable and wearable homage with a Bioceramic case and a machine-made automatic movement.
I’ll come right out and say it: I don’t hate Bioceramic. I actually think it’s a pretty solid material for a watch case. Is it the most luxurious material out there? No. Nor is it the most attractive or durable. But it has a few things going for it.
For one, it’s incredibly lightweight. Despite the fact that this watch is 42mm across, nearly 14.5mm thick and 48mm lug-to-lug — way bigger than my preferred specs — I hardly noticed I was wearing it (at least when I had short sleeves on, more on that later).
It’s also soft and temperature-neutral. It never gets hot or cold, and it always feels comfortable against my skin. As for the durability, I personally experienced zero issues. The watch certainly took a few whacks here and there and never showed any marks, so it seems to be fairly scratch-resistant. I just don’t know if I would trust the thinner applications, such as the hardware, to hold up after years of use. But maybe they would!
Plastic Fantastic
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The Bioceramic hardware, complete with the Fifty Fathoms script, is a nice touch.Photo by Johnny Brayson
The bowl-like shape of the case allows the watch to wear smaller than its case size would suggest.Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol
I see what they were going for, but I could do without the giant Swatch logo.Photo by Johnny Brayson
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The Bioceramic hardware, complete with the Fifty Fathoms script, is a nice touch.
Photo by Johnny Brayson
The bowl-like shape of the case allows the watch to wear smaller than its case size would suggest.
Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol
I see what they were going for, but I could do without the giant Swatch logo.
Photo by Johnny Brayson
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It’s too thick to be worn comfortably with long sleeves
While the watch is lightweight, it’s also montrously thick. 14.4mm is nothing to sneeze at — that’s a big watch, even if it doesn’t feel that way on the wrist. Frustratingly, Swatch has compounded the Scuba Fifty Fathoms’ beefiness by pairing it with a traditional NATO strap. The NATO itself is actually pretty lovely — it’s made of silky smooth nylon with nice stitching and no abrasive edges anywhere. But because it’s a NATO, that means it must be run under the case twice, adding a couple more millimeters to the overall height.
This setup makes the watch wear extremely bulky, and while this didn’t bother me when I was wearing short sleeves, it got pretty annoying whenever I wore long sleeves or a jacket, as the watch was always getting caught in my sleeve.
At 14.4mm thick — not including the added thickness from the included NATO strap — the Scuba Fifty Fathoms is quite the cuff-buster.Photo by Johnny Brayson
If I were ever to purchase this watch, I would immediately swap out the strap for a two-piece strap. This would reduce the thickness and would also allow an unobstructed view of the movement through the sapphire caseback, which the included NATO prevents unless you remove it. One thing to note, though: The drilled lugs contain hex screws just like on the actual Fifty Fathoms, which means you’ll need a special tool to remove the spring bars. It’s kind of annoying, but at the same time it shows good attention to detail in adherence to the original Blancpain design.
The watch is more rugged than you think (except for the crystal)
The Scuba Fifty Fathoms performs swimmingly underwater (no pun intended).Photo by Johnny Brayson
As I already mentioned, I found the Bioceramic case to be pretty hard-wearing. I didn’t beat the hell out of it or anything, but it certainly withstood the rigors of my average day-to-day life. Wanting to test the limits of the watch outside of my normal day, however, I took the watch underwater to see how it would perform. And, surprise, surprise, the Scuba Fifty Fathoms works perfectly fine when submerged.
There’s no screw-down crown, so you’ll want to make sure the crown is pushed in before going in the water, but other than that the watch is made for the water. It’s rated to a depth of 91m (equal to fifty fathoms, wink wink), and while it isn’t rated for diving, it’s well-equipped to handle any water you’re likely to encounter in your life — including swimming.
My test version of the watch, the Antarctic edition, also has a sort of party trick that the other colors do not. See that circle on the dial that says “Scuba?” That’s a real, functioning moisture indicator. A piece of paper that will change color if it detects moisture inside the watch, alerting you that something is wrong. It’s a callback to the same feature that was found on some early mil-spec Fifty Fathoms, which again, shows impressive dedication from Swatch when it comes to getting the details right on this watch.
One area of the watch that is sorely lacking in durability, however, is the crystal. It’s made from some kind of bio-sourced plastic material, and frankly, it’s junk. It scratches very, very easily — far easier than typical acrylic crystals — and the scratches aren’t as easy to buff out with Polywatch. I think upgrading the crystal and bezel insert to sapphire, like on the caseback, would be worth whatever price increase Swatch felt compelled to charge.
The lume and bezel really couldn’t be better
The two things that surprised me the most about the Scuba Fifty Fathoms were the bezel and the lume. For being essentially made of plastic, you’d think the bezel action would be tinny and janky, but it’s quite the opposite. This bezel moves crisply and confidently, with seriously loud clicks and zero play. I’ve experienced bezels from far more expensive watches with far worse action and build quality (cough, Zodiac), so I was shocked at how good the bezel felt here.
Every mark on the bezel is also fully lumed, along with all hands and indices. And this isn’t phoned-in lume either. It’s bright, blue-glowing Super-LumiNova and there is a ton of it. This watch is basically a torch in the dark, and is likely among the top-five lumed watches I’ve handled — it’s seriously that good. The best lume on a watch I’ve ever seen in person, for the record, was on the actual Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. If Swatch can make the lume this good on a $400 watch, then luxury brands have zero excuses for slacking in the nighttime visibility department.
The movement is what it is
Now, onto the most controversial aspect of this watch: the movement. Since Blancpain famously has “never made a quartz watch and never will,” Swatch had to put an automatic inside the Scuba Fifty Fathoms. So it used its SISTEM51 movement, which is machine-assembled from 51 parts, is held together by one screw and has a plastic rotor. Yes, it’s a far cry from the haute horlogerie calibres that Blancpain produces, but it’s accurate to within a handful of seconds per day and has a whopping 90-hour power reserve.
My experience with the movement? It was fine! The crown winds backward, which is strange, but otherwise isn’t an issue. The rotor spins very easily and you can definitely feel it on your wrist when it’s moving. I could see that bothering some people. The movement itself isn’t exactly a work of art from an aesthetic standpoint, but I do appreciate the laser-printed ocean illustration and little nudibranch on the rotor — it’s fun to look at and beats a closed caseback any day of the week.
While it’s not exactly the work of fine craftsmen, the SISTEM51 movement is still fun to look at with its laser-printed illustrations.Photo by Johnny Brayson
The biggest issue with the movement is its planned obsolescence. It’s meant to run without issues for five years. Once it gets to that point, or if you do run into any issues sooner, it can’t really be repaired. Instead, you’ll have to send the watch to Swatch and they’ll swap in a new movement. That in itself seems fine, to be honest, but what will that movement look like? If you send Swatch a Scuba Fifty Fathoms in 30 years, are they going to have a nudibranch-printed movement waiting to go into your watch? Or will it be an ugly stock movement, different from the one you originally paid for?
These questions about the longevity of the Scuba Fifty Fathoms are the main thing to consider before buying this watch. If it’s worth it to you to have the watch look and perform the way it does for only five years or so, and then you’re happy with taking your chances after that, then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re looking for an heirloom, well, you probably shouldn’t be looking at Swatch anyway.
Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms: Alternatives
If you’re more interested in a steel dive watch with a serviceable movement that still has those Blancpain vibes, there are plenty of options available. For around $700, the Bulova Mil Ships is based on a prototype diver from the 1950s and shares a lot in common with Fifty Fathoms models from the era — including the functional moisture indicator. The Tornek-Rayville TR-660 is a revived take on what was essentially a rebadged Fifty Fathoms from the 1960s. They’re priced under a grand but sell out fast and can be difficult to obtain. For more options, check out our dedicated guide to Scuba Fifty Fathoms alternatives.
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