Table of contents:

Can The Swatch and Blancpain Collab Replicate Moonswatch Madness?

Well, this was unexpected…or was it? Apparently, negotiations between Swatch and Blancpain had been going on since late 2022, around six months after the launch of the first Moonswatch…so we hear about the timekeeping grapevine.

However, it seems out of the blue (no oceans pun intended), Blancpain and Swatch have joined forces, following some bizarre advertisements in a number of large scale newspapers including the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", a large German newspaper showing an Instagram post displaying five oceans and both brands logos. As cryptic as the Riddle of The Sphinx, we certainly know who is behind this latest horological conundrum.

With brand marketing campaigns starting Friday 1st September in newspapers like “The New York Times” and Japan’s “Nikkei”, we must act quickly to ensure we stay ahead of the news. So as Noel Gallagher aptly said, what’s the story, morning glory? Time to find out what lies beneath the new Blancpain collaboration?

What We Know So Far About The Collaboration?

With marketing campaigns showcasing a variety of advertorials, just what exactly do we know about the possible collection, due to launch on September 9th?

Instagram Advert - Source - Reddit

They have kept pretty tight-lipped when it comes to their linkup, meaning we are missing a number of details, including the collection, style and who the heck they think they are!

A number of the brand’s boutiques have been actively reporting that they’ve received a yellow Peli case which is sealed shut. The cases feature both brand’s official logos, made up of a crown that showcases an “S” and a “KB” from Blancpain.

But, haven’t we seen that crown before? More on that in good time. Let’s rewind a minute to the 1st of September. An advert was released, taking up two pages in some of the world's biggest newspapers such as The New York Times, Nikkei and The Frankfurter Allgemeine.

The details included water and a very stripped back logo. On September 4th, both brand’s Instagram, released an intriguing post relating to the Pacific, Antarctic, Indian, Atlantic and Arctic oceans in five boxes, relating to the five different oceans across the world.

The centre box states Blancpain x Swatch along with the date 9.9.2023.

Newspaper Advert - Source - Reddit

What little we do know, the 9th of September is exceptionally exciting for all you horophiles!

Past Collabs With Swatch

There can only be one. If you’ve kept up with our latest news, you will be familiar with the Omega and Swatch link up, The Moonswatch.

Source - Reddit

Linking the highly enigmatic Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch with a twist, the Moonswatches that were released came in Bioceramic and related to the wonderful world of celestial outer space. Below is a list of all the watches released from the legendary collaboration.

Mission To The Sun
Mission To Mercury
Mission To Venus
Mission To Earth
Mission To The Moon
Mission To The Moon Moonshine Gold
Mission To Mars
Mission To Jupiter
Mission To Saturn
Mission To Uranus
Mission To Neptune
Mission To Pluto

Selling at retail for £228 for pieces like the Mission To The Sun which was given a yellow sheen or the Mission To Venus in a gorgeous pink and cream sheen, sold on the secondary market for more than six times over retail. Why?

The hype and marketing machine behind the collection prompted what was noted as Moonswatch Madness (we’ve already copyrighted that, Mr. Hayek!), as people queued up outside stores overnight, tents were pitched, flasks were drunk and even a small dose of rioting occurred!

This prompted further watches to be released following the original releases on the 24th of March 2022. Seeing the Mission To Moonshine Gold on April 6th 2023 which featured Omega’s proprietary Moonshine gold seconds hand, it sold at retail for £250 and again fared incredibly well at resale.

Subsequent editions have been released, including:

Mission to Moonshine Gold Strawberry Moon with a strawberry covered Moonshine Gold hand
A golden chronograph seconds hand with the number “3” discreetly stamped on and dipped in Omega’s own proprietary alloy.
A flower Moonshine Gold seconds hand
A pink moon edition with a Moonshine gold hand with a luminous pink colour tip
A Swiss National Day version with a lantern covered Moonshine Gold hand
Mission to Moonshine Gold Neptune Blue, a blue piece with a Moonshine gold chronograph seconds hand.

What’s coming next? No one knows.

What Releases Do We Expect?

The release will inevitably be commandeered by Gregory Kissling, The Head of Special Projects on behalf of Nick Hayek, CEO of the group…no relation to Magic Mike and the Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard actor, Salma Hayek far as we are aware!

Source - Reddit

Considering he was the gentleman who oversaw the work with Moonswatch, we can expect to see a number of design features and nods to either brand across the piece. For now, all that has been teased is the mysterious yellow case with “T minus? days'' firmly attached. We can safely say that Blancpain’s immense heritage as the oldest horological brand will not be forgotten.

With reference to Five Oceans in their latest Instagram advert, we have a sneaky suspicion that there will be five variants released from the collection. Whether or not the oceans themselves have any bearing on the watches is up for debate. It’s a little specific to not use some elements of the oceans in the pieces, right?

We are confident that each release will be oriented around new Bioceramic colours, instead of rehashing the Moonswatch’s iconic shades. The colours will follow the varying colours of Nudibranch (sea slugs) that reside in each of the oceans. This is one slippery customer until we find out more on September 9.

For clarity, there are well over 5,000 species of nudibranchs in each of the five oceans. That means the brands are absolutely spoilt for choice in terms of choosing an ocean based colour!

Why does the collection seem so “ocean-based”? This is of course due to Blancpain’s incredible history of releasing the first dive watches, The Fifty Fathoms 70 years ago, this year. How convenient…

How Prestigious Is Blancpain?

Blancpain is the oldest surviving watchmaking brand, entitling it to be the great granddaddy of all major luxury brands within the industry.

Owned by the Swatch since 1992, Blancpain was bought for 60 million Swiss Francs under the careful eyes of Jean-Claude Biver. Now, Marc Hayek has taken the reins since 2002 and was undoubtedly a key player in the collaboration between the two brands.

Blancpain is expected to release around 10,000 to 20,000 watches a year. Considering they released the first ever dive watch in 1953, the Fifty Fathoms, they keep their watches in low supply to keep us horophiles keener and ever so hungrier! It’s estimated that they have a total revenue of just under £200 million

Releasing the worlds smallest watch in 1956, 3 years after the Fifty Fathoms and Rolex Submariner releases, The Ladybird is sized at 11.85 in diameter and broke the record for the world's smallest balance wheel.

Feel like you want some more record breaking timekeeping stats?

They created the world's most complicated wristwatch in 1991 - The 1735 Grande Complication.
Their Calibre 6395 was the smallest movement featuring moon phases, day, month and date indicators.
They released the world's thinnest self-winding chronograph and worlds smallest minute repeater movement in 1987.
Created the world's first self-winding tourbillon and perpetual calendar that was given an 8-day power reserve.

What Is The History Of Swatch?

They are a Swiss manufacturer of both watches and jewellery. Of course, we’ll be focusing on the watches this time!

Originally named SSIH in the 1930s, the business was founded when Omega and Tissot conjoined. Unfortunately, this watch was short lived as SSIH became insolvent due to the Quartz Crisis and the crippling recession.

SSIH joined ASUAG, a similar conglomerate that was the world's largest producer of movements and parts. ASUAG fell apart in 1982, leading to SSIH and ASUAG linking together in 1983. CEO Nicolas Hayek took over in 1985 and renamed the partnership SMH in 1986, then The brand was later founded in 1998.

They are the number one manufacturer of finished watches in the world. No wonder they can dish out such valued collabs!

What Does Swatch Own?

They have continued to buy and involve other companies in their increasing portfolio. In fact, to make things easy for you time-starved horologists, here is a comprehensive list of the brands owned under their umbrella:

Breguet
Hamilton
Omega
Glashütte Original
Union Glashütte
Jaquet Droz
Calvin Klein watches
Blancpain
Balmain
Flik Flak.
Longines
León Hatot
Rado
Harry Winston
Tissot
Certina
Mido

They own a number of movement manufacturers and production companies such as ETA, Valjoux and Nivarox, supplying a number of brands both in and out of the conglomerate.

Will The Collab Be As Big As The MoonSwatch?

Frankly Timelords, we will have to wait until the big day to find out.

Source - Reddit

Given the current adoration on social media and the circling conspiracy theories generating more hype about the design of the watches, we can only expect another repeat of the madness…if not with potentially more adulation.

We must remember that Omega has been collaborating for a long time. Think of the James Bond inspired Seamaster watches and the role of the watch in the films since 1997 under Pierce Brosnan. What about their links with The Olympics and their new gold Paris 2024 coloured bezel Seamaster?

Blancpain has links with the murky coloured military, shying away from the marketing world of collabs. It makes the link between the brands even more bizarre yet intoxicating.

After all, this is a link up between the young and hip and a Godfather of top luxury brands and diving fortitude. How epic.

Where And When Can You Dive Into Your Pockets And Buy One?

As per the advertorial, keep your horological eyes peeled for the 9th of September 2023. All Swatch stores worldwide have been granted the special yellow coloured Peli case, meaning they are the places to flock to for your purchase.

Don’t go to your Blancpain boutiques though unless you want to buy a Blancpain like a Villeret or a Fifty Fathoms. They will be in there but as display only.

Importance of Fifty Fathoms

The Fifty Fathoms is significant as it’s the first ever dive piece to grace the horological world. Celebrating 70 since its release this year, the collection has established the timekeeping template for every dive watch since its release. Worn by the likes of Jacques Cousteau, this is the perfect piece for water-borne peeps and nautical freaks!

Why Is It Called Fifty Fathoms?

You Shakespeare lovers may already know the answer. The collection is named The Fifty Fathoms as it follows a passage from “Ariel’s Song” in Scene II Act I of the Shakespeare play, “The Tempest”. It began with the great words “Full Fathom Five”. Now that’s the way to name a collection!

Is The Fifty Fathoms Worth It?

We absolutely think it’s worth it!

As the first modern dive watch, the collection is littered with history and innovation. Creating the fantastic lockable bezel with a dive-time scale that is capable of rotating in just one direction, was a life-saving innovation for divers who needed to calculate oxygen in the tank.

Typically keeping to itself, its new collaboration with Swatch may just be the next step for the very collection to get thrown into the realms of modernism. Need we say the words “Bioceramic?”

BREAKING NEWS

Breaking news, Timelords!

The Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms is now live on the site and set to launch on Saturday September 9 in a collaboration between both brands. Following on from the Fifty Fathoms collection that was created 70 years ago, there have been 5 editions that will be unveiled in conjunction with Swatch’s SCUBA dive line.

The general features across the five pieces tend to be:

A strong colour scheme.
Signature Bioceramic material which is taken from 66% ceramic and 33% biosourced material taken from castor oil
Each one references the five oceans.
All feature and inspired by “nudibranchs” that are found in each of the seas and found on the casebacks.
The NATO straps which are made out of recycled fishing nets.
All dials are gradient meaning the colour darkens towards the periphery.
The collections are not limited but are capped, as the brand phrases to “1 watch per person per store and day”.

Starting from September 9th 2023, you can get your hands on any one of the following editions:

ARCTIC OCEAN Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms

Released to celebrate the smallest ocean on earth, this edition features a beige-coloured dial. It features a special emblem of a fiery red Dendronotus Frondosus which is made up of a trefoil on a yellow background with a white cross cutting through it.

You may notice the very bold “NO RADIATIONS” reference which is positioned just below the logo. This is actually a link to the great Fifty Fathoms heritage stemming as far back as the 1960’s. While you may think it’s to do with the anti pollution vibe of the timepieces, it actually relates to the symbol used by Blancpain when they released the first ever divers watch without radium.

Source - Brand’s Site

PACIFIC OCEAN Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms

This particular colour scheme is inspired by the diverse colours of the Chromodoris Kuiteri which is located in the largest and deepest ocean of the five. The case is similarly bright yellow and features a fishing net recycled NATO strap.

Source - Brand’s Site

ATLANTIC OCEAN Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms

Made up of a series of deep blue shades, the model links in with the stormy seas of the Atlantic. Inspired by the Glaucus Atlanticus for the colours on the case, this piece is a stunning model!

Featuring a slight date aperture between 4 and 5 o’clock, it’s tilted so a quick glance down can reveal the date with just a quick twist of the wrist. The whole piece is beautifully done with the environment in mind, including the glass which is bio-sourced.

Source - Brand’s Site

INDIAN OCEAN Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms

Equipped with a green coloured Bioceramic case and NATO strap, the watches colour is inspired by the Nembrotha Kubaryana which is referenced on the caseback. Powered by the SISTEM51 movement, you can expect an extremely strong power reserve of 90 hours and a fully anti-magnetic hairspring, allowing for the utmost precision.

Source - Brand’s Site

ANTARCTIC OCEAN Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms

As a celebration of the incredibly tough Antarctic ocean, it features a bicolour water contact indicator that detects the presence of water. Inspired by the Tritoniella Belli, its shape is inspired by an iceberg and its white colours inspire the Bioceramic case at 42.3mm and 14.4mm thickness.

Source: Brand Site

Sistem51 Movement

The watches are powered by Swatch’s own mechanical movement, The SISTEM51.

This movement was launched in 2013 and represents the first and only mechanical movement which is entirely automated. This Swiss-made mechanism is made of a minuscule 51 parts. Given a fantastic 90 hour power reserve and is entirely anti-magnetic due to the hairspring that’s made with Nivachron. The Nivachron was specifically designed to increase resistance to magnetic fields and made in collaboration with big boys Audemars Piguet.

Visible through the transparent caseback, you may find your eyes are instead captured by the beautiful nudibranchs that are displayed there. Featured there via digital print onto the movement rotor, the watch can charge itself automatically via the movement of the wrist.

Prices of Blancpain X Swatch Fifty Fathoms Scuba come in at £340 across all the models at the time of writing.

Specs Of The Swatch X Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Scuba

Chrono Hunter appreciates that you are all very busy people. So, here is a handy breakdown for those looking for a quick horological fix.

Model Name	Reference Numbers	Dial Colour	Strap	Material
Arctic Ocean	SO35N100	Beige	NATO	Bioceramic
Pacific Ocean	SO35P100	Grey	NATO	Bioceramic
Atlantic Ocean	SO35A100	Navy	NATO	Bioceramic
Indian Ocean	SO35I100	Green	NATO	Bioceramic
Antarctic Ocean	SO35S100	White	NATO	Bioceramic

	Swatch X Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Scuba
Movement	SISTEM51
Functions	Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Date Function (on all but Arctic and Antarctic)
Case Back	Biosourced Material with anti-scratch coating
Water Resistance	300 metres
Case Thickness	14.44mm
Crystal	Biosourced Material with anti-scratch coating
Lug to Lug measurement	48mm

Conclusion

Have you synchronised your watches for the 9th of September 2023? We certainly have along with those sea slugs. The collaboration is something that is unprecedented for Blancpain but almost guaranteed for Swatch. Given the incredible level of success from the Omega link up, who blames them for capitalising on the fame?

Blancpain’s role as old Father Time with its dark desirable watches and military history makes it all the weirder for the two brands. In the same instance, we couldn’t think of a greater matchup. What better than blending the hip with the classic. After all, it worked a treat for Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.

As we say, information is scarce. However, we can hazard a guess at the type of movement that won’t be used! Blancpain have been very keen on not using Quartz movement in their pieces, in fact, they are yet to make a Quartz timepiece.

Jean-Claude Biver stated “Since 1735, there has never been a quartz Blancpain. And there never will be”. Staying true to the beliefs in mechanical watchmaking, will we see a mechanical or Quartz movement on September 9th?

One element is for certain. We are expecting ocean influenced themes on the watches as per the adverts relating to bodies of water. Celestial like the Moonswatch, this ain't. Looking ocean blue but not feeling it, this absolutely is!

The dive community and hype monkeys will no doubt be revved up at this new launch which is yet again set to quench those avid horophiles' thirst.

Feeling a desire to own an iconic linkup? Want to buy a Blancpain at the best possible price? Perhaps you want to sell a Blancpain or get a no-obligation valuation? Get in contact with Chrono Hunter and let’s see how we can assist.

Contact us here and check out our phenomenal reviews on Trustpilot to see why so many people regard us as their first choice when they want to buy a watch or sell a watch. With our verified network of the best luxury retailers, your transaction is in the safest and most secure hands. Receive offers in hours if not minutes and save money the smart way today.

Discover, hunt, buy, sell