The History of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
One of the first Fifty Fathoms released by Blancpain in 1953
Blancpain, a name synonymous with haute horlogerie, may be reluctant to admit that one its most celebrated collections is indeed a tool watch. In any case, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is an incredible line of watches, and its heritage and functionality are largely what have kept it in play today.
In 1952, Jean-Jacques Fiechter invented the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms after a diving oversight left him without air on a dive. At the time, his aunt was the CEO of Blancpain, and so he designed the first model. In 1953, the French military did receive their first Blancapin Fifty Fathoms, the watch also debuted that same year. Its name came from the imperial unit of measure, fathoms; 50 of which were approximately 91 meters – about the deepest divers could go at the time. French Navy captain, Captain Robert Maloubier, had started looking for watches to provide as part of the equipment for the newly formed combat diver unit. However, there was no watch on the market that could meet the French’s stringent standards. They eventually struck a deal with Blancpain, after learning about the Fifty Fathoms.
Thus, the first Blancpain Fifty Fathoms were equipped with uni-rotational bezels that locked to protect from accidental rotations, the double O-ring system for water resistance (invented by Fietcher), and automatic movements, for long-term water resistance. Readability was also crucial, as such, the military versions had black dials and radium markers (and were radioactive). Most of these features may seem standard on dive watches today, however they were seen as highly innovative at the time.
The Fifty Fathoms was sold to the French military by Aqualung. Lip, that initially rejected distributing them in 1952, recanted and began to sell them as “Lip Blancpain”. It was also sold by other retailers around Europe. The watch went on to be used by the likes of Jacques Cousteau and the Spanish, German, and American navies, cementing its position as an especially desirable vintage dive watch.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misleadingly stated that the Fifty Fathoms was introduced in 1953, but it was invented in 1952 by Jean-Jacques Fiechter, as described above. We also wrote that the watch had been distributed by Lip exclusively for the French military, but in reality it was sold by Aqualung and was never exclusively sold to the French. We'd like to thank known Blancpain expert Jeffrey Kingston for providing this information.