THE ESSENTIALS

MAKE: BLANCPAIN
MODEL: BATHYSCAPHE
YEAR: 1966
BOX/PAPERS: NO/NO
CASE DIAMETER: 37mm
CASE MATERIAL: STAINLESS STEEL
BRACELET MATERIAL: RUBBER
MOVEMENT: AUTOMATIC

In the world of dive watches, whilst the Rolex Submariner is deservingly the most famous, it was in fact Blancpain that released the first purpose-built model - the Fifty Fathoms, an achievement rivalling being our founder Stef's favourite ever watch. The development of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was a tale of an extraordinary collaboration between civilian and military forces. Like two sides of a coin, they navigated parallel routes before merging into a mutual endeavour, setting the stage for a tool as valuable to scuba divers as to the special forces. 

Nevertheless, the Fifty Fathoms was ultimately a model designed for professionals - the 41mm case, whilst modest by today's standards, was deemed too large for most civilians then. To cater for recreational divers and those who look for a rugged yet sleek dive watch for daily wear, Blancpain introduced the Bathyscaphe line, which retained the key dive watch elements such as water resistance, rotating bezel, and luminous markers but packed all of the above into a much smaller 35-37mm case size. 

The resulting produced, as we see here, is a perfectly proportioned design; the matte pewter grey dial features contrasting white printing, a date window at 3 o'clock, baton hour markers, and oversized hands. The tritium lume on the markers and hands have aged to a rich creamy hue. The acrylic bezel is equally perfect, free of any cracks or damage. 

What makes this watch even more special, however, is that it was retailed and "double-signed" by Scubapro, a professional diving equipment company that still exists today. These watches were sold exclusively in Scubapro's shops up until the late 60s, and very few survived until today. 

The watch keeps superb time at +4 s/d, 260 amps with a beat error of 0.3 ms. It is supplied with two straps, a silver Tropic and a black Apollo seen in the pictures.