Introducing the Blancpain Villeret Annual Calendar GMT Steel

This Villeret Annual Calendar GMT by Blancpain brings together two top current trends: steel and useful complications. It’s the first time that the Swatch Group brand has made an Annual Calendar GMT in steel. Given the delicate economic climate, an increasing number of gold or platinum models with complications now come in steel.

The functions are also bang on trend. The annual calendar is mechanically set

for the year making it halfway between the complex perpetual calendar (which only needs to be adjusted once in 2100) and the finicky simple calendar (which requires 5 manual adjustments per year): it recognises months with 30 or 31 days but not February so it only needs adjusting once a year. This one is paired with a second time zone at 8 o’clock.

Last but not least, the case is fitted with Blancpain’s patented under-lug corrector system.

Price: 25,500 CHF

By Fabrice Eschmann

blancpain.com

When you think of a ladybird, you think of the little black-spotted red insect that symbolises happiness. But did you know that Ladybird is also the name of a miniature watch designed by Blancpain in 1956? This year the model has been wrapped in a mother-of-pearl and diamond case to celebrate love. Its sheer dial is adorned by 4 glittering indices which 2 openwork hour and minute hands glide above. Lovers will adore the next feature: two hearts to spice things up. The first one lies in the centre in mother-of-pearl shimmering with diamonds and rubies. The second is a removable ruby charm shot with a diamond arrow and attached to one of the lugs (choice of 6 or 12 o’ clock). The small self-winding 6150 calibre brings to life the time functions and 40-hour power reserve inside the 21.5mm white gold case with a diamond-covered bezel. Price: 22,000 CHF. Sharmila Bertin
blancpain.com

“La fin du jour est femme” (the end of day is woman) wrote Paul Valéry (1871-1945). And yet, despite our respect for the French author and poet and with a modern view, you almost want to say that woman is woman by day and by night; every hour is hers for the taking. The self-winding Women model beautifully captures 24 hours in the life of a woman. Its rose gold double-stepped 40mm case glitters with two rows of diamonds. Its mother-of-pearl dial is divided into three. The minutes lie in the centre whilst the fan-shape retrograde seconds counter stands at 6 o’ clock. The top of the dial features a day/night indicator whose different shades of blue show the passing of time beneath a retrograde hour hand. The indicator is adorned by a bejewelled sky with a diamond moon and stars, yellow sapphire sun, yellow mother-of-pearl dots and bevelled white mother-of-pearl clouds. Price on request

The tourbillion, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801, is a mechanical system which houses escapement fittings and the regulator in a rotating cage. As well as turning on itself alongside the lever, balance wheel and spring, it also spins around the seconds wheel. The carrousel, designed by Danish watchmaker Bahne Bonniksen in 1892, is a similar system but it has two wheel trains: one to tilt the cage and the other to supply energy to the balance wheel and escapement. These two watchmaking masterpieces counter the effect of gravity on the watch’s function. This L-evolution by Blancpain brings both devices together in a single movement. Two cylinders wound by a single crown supply energy to both regulators. This extraordinary movement with NAC-coated peen patterned bridges is housed in a 47.4mm platinum case. Price: 348,000 CHF

Ganesh, the god of wisdom, intelligence and knowledge, is one of the most worshipped deities. The warmth of the god sitting with one leg over the other, four arms and an elephant’s head inspires both respect and emotion. The sculpted green effigy of Ganesh takes pride of place in the heart of the inlaid Shakudō dial alongside his “vahana” or “mount”, the impish rat Mushika. Shakudō is a copper and gold alloy of Japanese origin with a dark patina which glows blue to black depending on the light and is illuminated by yellow and bronze hues. Villeret’s signature hour and minutes burst from the bend in Ganesh’s trunk. The time functions are brought to life by a manual wind 15B calibre which you can see through the sapphire back of the 45mm rose gold case. Price: 150,000 CHF

Jehan-Jacques Blancpain opened a watch studio in his home village of Villeret (Bernese Jura) in 1753. The brand’s studio became a production facility in Brassus in the heart of the Joux Valley. Blancpain continues to pay tribute to its roots and the history of traditional watchmaking with the Villeret collection. It has now unveiled a stunning new model which has a large date display on its opalescent dial. It is true to the watch collection’s signature design features: blank dial adorned by applied Roman hour numerals beneath two leaf-shaped hour and minute hands and a slim central seconds hand. What’s new is a large dual display bearing the date in black at 6 o’ clock. The self-winding movement brings the watch to life from inside the 40mm gold double stepped case. Price upon request

The ever delicate and fleeting rose in all its pastel glory and symbolic love blossoms on the iridescent white mother-of-pearl dial on this limited edition watch (14 available) in ever-lasting love. The painstakingly beautiful bloom is made of mother-of-pearl petal marquetry dyed pink which bursts from the heart of the dial. The openwork leaf hands track the hours and minutes at 6 o’ clock at the bottom of the flower. The gleaming rose is showcased by a ring of brilliant-cut diamonds all of different sizes on the double bezel, slim lugs and delicately notched crown glittering with 121 gems. Gaze through the transparent 36.80 white gold case back to see the self-winding movement and its pink mother-of-pearl oscillating weight bringing to life the time functions and 72-hour power reserve. Price: 47,000 CHF

Milos Pavlovic and Edoardo Piscopo named PRO Class Champions of Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo World Final in Sepang, Kevin Conway –Lawson Aschenbach claim PRO-AM Class, Jack Rattenbury unrivaled in AM Class.
This was a weekend to remember for the team from Bonaldi Motorsport made up of Edoardo Piscopo and Milos Pavlovic, who claimed the PRO Class World Final title after having seized the PRO Class European Crown on Friday.

The Italian-Serbian duo managed to win Race 1 in the morning and took P2 in the afternoon’s race behind their teammate Mirko Bortolotti, the latter making the most impressive comeback of the day, fighting his way up from P13 to P1. American Richard Antinucci (O’Gara Motorsport) was only five points behind the winners, appearing twice on the podium scoring P2 in Race 1 and P3 to finish. Third place in Race 1 was taken by the Italian pole position setter Alberto Viberti (Autocarrozzeria Imperiale).

With one win each for Kevin Conway-Lawson Aschenbach and Gerhard Tweraser and Tomas Pivoda, the PRO Class World Title was awarded to the American duo (Change Racing). The GRT Grasser Racing team pair failed to finish Race 2 and had to settle for P2 overall. With them on podium in Race 1 were Mikail Grachev (Automobili Lamborghini Racing Team Germany) and Alberto di Folco (Autocarrozzeria Imperiale), and in Race 2 Mikko Eskelinen-Dimitri Enjalabert (Automonbili Lamborghini Racing Team Luxemburg) and Danial Hiqmar-Fairuz-Fauzy (GRT Grasser Racing Team).

There wasn’t a single rival that could overcome Welshman Jack Rattenbury in the AM Class. The Lamborghini Racing Team UK top driver stormed his rivals winning both races and dueling head-to-head with more expert drivers. Second place overall went to the Italian Simone Pellegrinelli (DTMotorsport) who took the AM Class European Title on Friday.

In the official Awards cerimony the President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini Stephan Winkelmann awarded to the three Class winners of the World Final the Trofeo Mamè. All winners also received from the main partner Blancpain a self-winding L-EVOLUTION Chronographe Flyback “Super Trofeo”, Caliber F185.

All the attention will now be on the upcoming season when the new Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 will debut, sharing the grid with the Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo.

Blancpain is continuing its commitment to protect the world’s oceans by supporting the National Geographic Society’s “Pristine Seas” project for a 4th consecutive year. The aim of this initiative is to guarantee the conservation of flora and fauna in marine areas and by donating 250,000 Euros to it from sales of its Bathyscaphe (1,000 Euros per watch based on a total of 250 pieces). The 43.6mm diameter ceramic grey case is topped with a rotating bezel also made of ceramic material featuring Liquidmetal® blue inserts and markers. The lightweight case contains the F385 automatic calibre which provides 50 hours power reserve and drives the time functions (hours and minutes in the centre and small seconds at 6 o’clock), the chronograph (30min and 12-hours counters at 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock respectively) and date (aperture at half past four). On the blue sunburst dial, the hour indexes are in different forms and the two main watch hands are filled with luminescent material. Price: 18,800 CHF

Long before the electronic blood pressure monitor or modern “heart rate” watches were invented, doctors and nurses measured their patients’ heart rate using their fingers and a watch equipped with a pulsometer ideally. The pulsometer scale along the dial usually went up to 30 to provide the number of beats per minute. The Villeret model’s domed white enamel dial features an old-fashioned pulsometer surrounding the enamelled Roman hour numerals, chronograph counters (30 minute indicator at 3 o’ clock and 12 hour indicator at 9 o’ clock) and date display (at 6 o’ clock). Two slim openwork hands point to the dial’s hours and minutes and the chronograph flyback function (pusher at 4 o’ clock) which are all brought to life by Blancpain’s very own self-winding calibre housed in a 43.6mm rose gold case. Price: 29,500 CHF