The eponymous watch brand that to this day still bears the surname of its founder, Jehan-Jaques Blancpain, was first registered in 1735 (and remains the oldest watch brand still in existence) in the small village of Villeret, Switzerland, where for more than 200 years, the company remained within the same family of talented watchmakers, passing on the traditions and technical know-how that would lead in 1961 to Blancpain becoming the very centre for the production of watch movements for the Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) joining the ranks of other established watchmaking powerhouses, such as Omega, Tissot and Lemania.