This Legendary Dive Watch Brand Refines Its Classical Calendar-Moonphase Dress Watch

I don’t work for a luxury watch company, but I imagine it’s both a blessing and a curse to have your brand so tightly associated with one particular watch.

On the one hand, watches like the JLC Reverso and AP Royal Oak carry such strong reputations that even non-watch fans recognize them. On the other hand, these horological titans leave entire catalogs in their shadows.

Blancpain

Perhaps no brand knows this struggle more than Blancpain. The highly revered Swiss watchmaker, founded in 1753 and now under the careful stewardship of the Swatch Group, is known even to many “watch people” exclusively for the Fifty Fathoms.

Effectively inventing the dive watch and staying at the top of the category is an admirable accomplishment, but the heritage Swiss watchmaker — the world’s oldest — has an enormous catalog of equally impressive offerings.

There is no better example, or one further removed from the Fifty Fathoms, than the Villeret Quantième Complet. This automatic calendar-moonphase uses classical design elements like Roman numeral hour markers, leaf hands and a crescent-shaped moonphase window.

Blancpain

It is the centerpiece of Blancpain’s new three-watch Villeret Golden Hour series, along with a feminine alternative and a simplified time-and-date dial.

This update brings a collection of small refinements that add up to the most elegant iteration of Blancpain’s criminally under-appreciated dress watch.

The man in the moon

The Villeret collection, named after the Swiss town where Blancpain was founded almost three hundred years ago, was introduced in 2003. However, the Villeret Quantième Complet design dates back to the brand’s calendar-moonphase references from the early 1980s.

Blancpain

Obviously, the fundamental design language goes back much further to clocks from the nineteenth century, and the new updates elevate the level of detail to land closer to antique examples.

Classical features like the leaf hour and minute hands, S-curve date pointer, crescent moonphase window with a railroad track and Roman numeral hour markers have been part of the Villeret Quantième Complet from the beginning.

Blancpain

For the Villeret Golden Hour series, the hour and minute hands now have lume inserts, the Roman numeral font is simplified without serifs and the 12 is replaced with Blanpain’s stylized “B” logo.

The physically smallest update is also the most alluring, with the moon and stars on the ceramic moonphase disc getting raised surfaces, and the moon’s facial features are made of 18-karat gold leaf.

Steel ‘n’ gold

The new Villeret Quantième Complet debuts with four references, blending two dial colors, two case materials and three strap options. An opaline dial is available with an 18-karat red gold case, hands and dial markings on a honey brown alligator strap, or with a steel case, hands and dial markings on a blue alligator strap.

Blancpain

Alternatively, the golden brown dial also comes in 18-karat red gold or steel, but both options are on a dark brown alligator leather strap. The straps have quick-release pins and folding clasps that match the case material.

The Villeret Gold Hour series also brings subtle improvements to the case design. The bezel is smaller and less bulbous, and the crown has a larger diameter but retains the same knurling.

The curvature of the lugs is slightly less pronounced, and they now sit higher on the case, creating a more streamlined silhouette on the wrist.

Blancpain

The Fifty Fathoms is a hell of a watch with more clout than most brands carry in their entire catalog, but if you want to dive into everything else Blancpain has to offer, the Villeret Quantième Complet is a great place to start.

Availability and price

The Blancpain Villeret Quantième Complet is available now from Blancpain for $36,000 with an 18-karat red gold case or $20,400 with a steel case.

It runs on the same in-house caliber 6654 automatic movement as the previous generation, with a 4Hz frequency and a 72-hour power reserve. This movement is equipped with Blancpain’s patented under-lug calendar adjustment, operated with a finger push.

Blancpain

Blancpain Villeret Quantième Complet

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Blanpain caliber 6654.4 automatic
Water Resistance	30m

• $36,000 at Blanpain

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