Blancpain ultra thin automatic

Biver and the rescue of the mechanical watch industry

In the 1970’s the swiss watch industry was blown away by quartz watches, that could be produced at a fraction of the cost of mechanical watches. It got so bad that the whole industry nearly rolled over and gave up. But luckily there were people like Jean-Claude Biver. Together with Jacques Piguet they bought the then dormant Blancpain brand for just 22000 swiss francs. They moved right against the market by deciding to only make complicated mechanical watches. Their slogan sums up the goal of the branc. “Since 1735, there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch. And there never will be.” Everybody tried to explain Biver that this was pure madness. When they introduced their masterpiece watches to the market in the early 1980’s, they turned out to be an unbelievable succes. Blancpain was eventually sold to Swatch in the early 1990’s for 60 million swiss francs.

This is a very rare execution of the second Blancpain masterpiece. It is the reference 0071. It houses the automatic caliber 71 by Frederic Piguet. The asymmetric case back is absolutely stunning. It beautifully showcases the geneva stripe decorated movement and its 21k gold rotor. This earliest execution does not mention automatic on the dial, which adds to the simplicity and charm of this version.
Another thing that really sets this Blancpain apart is the deployant clasp. This is one of very very few examples with this incredible deployant clasp produced by Gay Freres. It has a very nice minimalistic design and works like a charm. This classy dresser is presented on a top level ostrich strap by Camille Fournet Paris.