Many of the inventions that have changed our lifestyle, from the microwave oven to the computer, from the digital camera to the spray can, from the satellite navigator to the internet, from the adhesive tape to the synthetic rubber tyre, from canned food to the lithium battery, they are result of military research. In fact, these are the only ones that, by investing non-repayable capital where a private company would not dare to risk, are able to push innovation, as the objective is not profit, but to always be one step ahead of the enemy .
Even one of the most desired and trendy objects in modern watchmaking is the result of specific military research. Let's go and discover thediving watch, indeed, of the progenitor of all modern diving watches: the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms.
The beginnings: military divers
After the Second World War, all the major powers equipped themselves with diver units. The need for these specialized bodies had emerged during the conflict, following the exploits of the Italian Navy's raiders, whose value was recognized by the Allies themselves. Some of these actions were truly sensational, such as the attack on the port of Alexandria and the Gibraltar attack, or the memorable attack in Suda Bay, Crete. It can well be said that the birth of foreign underwater units is largely due to the fear that attacks like those of our raiders could be repeated in the future, and to the need to counter them or at least to be able to inflict comparable damage on the enemy.
The French Navy decides to equip itself with combat divers capable of operating at night and during the day, carrying out both sabotage and intelligence gathering missions. Among the equipment necessary to allow frogmen to achieve these goals, there are certainly diving watches. There were already, in the XNUMXs, several waterproof watches capable of working underwater, come on Panerai ai Rolex Oysters. But there is no specialist watch on the market with the requirements required by diving professionals. To be acceptable for professional use, a diving watch requires:
- Rotating bezel with the purpose of indicating the minutes of air remaining
- Easy reference minute hand
- Luminescent hands and indexes, light in colour, clearly visible
- Dark dial, in contrast with hands and indexes, with a clean and distraction-free style
- Last but not least, dive-proof waterproofness.
The French Navy turns to various watch manufacturers, none of which are interested in developing a model that requires such investments and promises to have such a narrow market. The global watch industry is currently trying to ride the trend of airline flights. Let's not forget that we are in the 0s, the period in which commercial aviation was in full expansion, jet-engined planes were introduced into the civilian market and passenger connections between the Old and New Worlds by air definitively supplanted those by ship. , until then the prerogative of luxury transatlantic liners. No one, in this age projected on the fly, who also sees the beginning of the space race, finds the sea depths particularly interesting. Nobody apart Jean-Jacques Fiechter, CEO Blancpain then freshly appointed, personally passionate about diving.
The choice of Blancpain as a supplier it therefore appears practically obligatory for military clients. As luck would have it, Fiechter did not limit himself to fulfilling the order received, but decided to improve the customer's specific requests in light of his own personal experience in scuba diving.
The improvements made by Fiechter compared to the original specifications are of considerable importance, and contribute to defining what we now consider a diving watch. Let's see them together.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms: why it is special
First, you need to make a watch that can resist water ingress in the conditions you encounter while diving. Not a very simple task, as it is the most delicate point regarding impermeability, winding crown, would require a screw closure: but this system, very widespread today, was still an exclusive Rolex patent in the XNUMXs, part of the Oyster system. Blancpain decides to use a waterproofing system based on a double sealing ring in rubber, which guarantees to maintain water resistance up to fifty fathoms, i.e. ninety meters - hence the name of the watch: Fifty Fathoms it actually means “fifty arms” in English -. This solution, however valid, however has a flaw: the double gasket is subject to wear when the crown is manipulated to wind the watch. Hence the need to employ a self-winding movement, in order to reduce the need to use the winding crown, limiting its use only to cases in which it is necessary to adjust the time. The caseback, however, is screw-down, as per tradition in waterproof watches.
Fiechter, as a passionate diver, chooses to include in the rotating ring a mechanism that makes it unidirectional, allowing it to rotate only counterclockwise. This decision derives from the desire to avoid the risk that accidental impacts move the ring nut, making the diver believe that he has a greater air reserve available than the actual one. With the unidirectional ring, movement is only possible in an anti-clockwise direction, at most leading one to believe that one has less oxygen than we actually have. It is clear how important this feature is in terms of diving safety. Naturally, the bezel is numbered with the minutes, another feature present in all diving watches today.
Another forward-thinking choice of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is the diameter. In the 34s, a men's watch had a diameter of 32, or even 42 millimeters, dimensions that to our eyes today appear small even for a women's timepiece. To maximize legibility, Fiechter chose to make a XNUMXmm wide watch, enormous for its time, but which became the dimensional standard for dive watches from then on.
Not content with having created one of the most innovative watches of its time, Fiechter equips the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms with a feature that is still not very widespread today, although very useful: an antimagnetic case, which protects it from the electromagnetic fields emitted by the electrical equipment used by the military . A further detail much appreciated by users is the application of a hygrosensitive paint in a round placed at six o'clock on the dial, which changes color if moisture infiltrates the watch.
Fame: Cousteau's expeditions
The Parisian importer of Blancpain watches was not, in the XNUMXs, a jewelery shop, but a diving shop. The French Navy supplies its supplies here, and it is here that Jacques Costeau, the famous ocean explorer, purchased his diving equipment, including the oxygen supply valves he designed himself. Even the watch we are talking about was considered, in this era, a diving instrument, not a luxury object: and so the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, accompanies Cousteau on the dives immortalized in the film “The Silent World”. The success of this film, winner of Oscars and Palme d'Or, also brought the fame of the film to the general public Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which still today is the most recognizable and appreciated watch in the world Maison Swiss. The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms However, it does not deviate from its roots, being chosen even after the 1953s by numerous navies around the world, from the United States to Spain, from Germany to the Israeli state, to equip their divers. Who knows if in XNUMX, when the watch was introduced, Fiechter expected all this success...
A modern reissue of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms today
The dive watch market today is more diverse than ever: from luxury to Rolex Submariner and Omega Seamaster to the essentiality of a Vostok amphibia or of an Seiko, there are diving watches for all budgets and all tastes. However, it would not be correct to forget about that watch which, first, dared to challenge the aesthetic conventions of the time to meet the real needs of users, combining for the first time in a single watch the unidirectional rotating bezel with minute indication, the large diameter, black dial with light luminescent markers and hands, waterproof and self-winding movement. The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms it is not just a luxury watch, it is the precursor of a category that has changed the public's tastes in watches and which, almost seventy years after its introduction, continues to influence its successors.
