Chronographs can be worn anywhere. While people tend to think of them mostly being used at sports grounds and perhaps race tracks, they have innumerable applications. Nevertheless, the dive chronograph remains something of an exception, long embodied by a single model: the Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph was virtually the only such timepiece throughout the 2000s. Dive watches naturally come equipped with some sort of time measurement solution: unidirectional bezels have few functions, but you can get by with one underwater. However, wearers don't tend to take off their dive watches on dry land and that's why this Blancpain is so much more than an ultra-functional dive watch: it's also a powerful and sophisticated chronograph.
Forerunner
The timepiece is usually made of steel but is also available in red gold. Its bezel, the hallmark of this generation of Fifty Fathoms, takes pride of place, with the pushers not far behind. They are broad and not too long so as not to damage neoprene wetsuits. Moreover, the large number of developments packed into this model aren’t simply the result of a vague wish list from the brand. Directly managed by Marc Hayek, a member of the family at the helm of the Swatch Group of which Blancpain is a part, the timepiece has been the subject of particular care and attention, all the more so in that Hayek is a professional diver and Blancpain has a historic relationship with the world of dive equipment. The full history of the Fifty Fathoms, the prototype of the modern dive watch, is told elsewhere; suffice it to say here that there’s a very personal dimension to this collection, Blancpain’s flagship ever since its launch in 2003. It features characteristics that were ahead of their time, including an easy-change strap system and a water-resistant display case. In addition to the steel bracelet, wearers have the option of a black rubber strap and another in rubber-backed sailcloth.
Subaquatic Features
The Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph is however especially distinctive for two other reasons. For one thing, it’s one of perhaps a handful of chronographs whose two pushers work underwater all the way to its guaranteed maximum depth of 300 metres (but not the crown, which must in no circumstances be used in such environments, even in your bathroom wash basin), so the chronograph remains fully operational. This means it can be used as a backup for the dive time measured by the de rigueur unidirectional convex sapphire crystal bezel. And of course it can also be used to time anything else that might take the underwater wearer’s fancy. Blancpain applied the same principle of underwater operation to another complication with its Aqua Lung Minute Repeater, the only watch able to ring out the time on request when immersed in liquid.
The Legendary 1185
The other significant feature of the Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph is one shared by almost all the brand’s other chronographs and many others besides: it uses the F185 calibre. Before Blancpain gave its own name to its associated movement Manufacture (Frédéric Piguet), this calibre was referred to as the 1185 and was one of the best of its generation. It is integrated, self-winding and includes a column wheel; it’s also flyback by design rather than in a derivative version. What is more, it’s very slim — at just 5.5mm — which is especially impressive given that it dates from the late 1980s when such matters weren’t really taken into account. The hand-wound 1180 version indeed held the record for the world’s slimmest chronograph (at 3.95mm) for over 20 years.
The Size of the Time
This version was however little used by Blancpain and nor was the record frequently brought up as a sales argument; in any case, compactness wasn’t a feature exploited in the timepiece under consideration: at 45 millimetres in diameter and 15.5 millimetres thick, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Flyback Chronograph was a large watch even for its day. Its size was also a technical necessity: there needed to be room in the case for the special seals providing protection in the event of the pushers being activated underwater. In addition, the case housed an iron container that naturally warded off magnetic fields, a legacy of the military applications of the Fifty Fathoms that explains the absence of a sapphire caseback.
