The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms can be referred to as the mother of diving watches. Even though it is not the first waterproof watch that has been developed and used to dive, that can be attributed to the Omega Marine in 1936, the Fifty fathoms is the first that featured a rotating bezel to help scuba divers measure time spent under the water. This feature has been adopted by all diving watches from then. The name Fifty Fathoms also refers to the water resistance depth.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms has become a real icon as it has been initially developed and tested for the Combat Divers of the French Navy and adopted by Commandant Jacques Yves Cousteau, a pioneer in scuba diving and underwater filming. The Fifty Fathoms is the watch worn by Cousteau in The World of Silence, the first under water movie that was a revolution at the time in 1956 that revealing underwater life in motion to millions of people.

Owning a fully original early version of the Fifty fathoms is really owning a true piece of history. Wearing an early Blancpain Fifty Fathoms on the wrist is a special feeling! As we say if watches could talk, well no doubt these would have many stories to tell. Fifty fathoms were real tool watches, used by professionals, combat divers, civilian divers, fishermen…

The first watches were released in 1953. Many versions of the watch have been produced over the years depending on the market or distributor and some feature some distributor name either as co-branding like LIP Blancpain or Aqualung, or even just the distributor name like the famous Tornek Rayville with the TR900 model issued to the US Navy.

The watch was produced to provide strong visibility underwater. It has a very big size for the time, 41mm. The rotating bezel is also large in Bakelite material. The bezel has become a truly iconic piece of design.
The black dial has luminous indexes. The indexes, filled hands and bezel used radium as luminous material to glow in the dark and provide maximum visibility. The radium has evolved over the years to the typical dark honey color and has melted into the dial. Each Fifty Fathoms has its own patina and personality.

On the pictures you can see two early executions, dated 1953-1955 with Rotomatic Incabloc writing on the dial. One with simple indexes has a very rare early Inverted 30 bezel. This watch, with known provenance used to belong to a professional diver in Marseille, France. The second is a 3/6/9/12 dial. This one, also with known provenance has been used for 30 years by a professional fisherman in Tarragona, Spain!

These two watches have developed a charming strong patina. Another charming element of these early models is the raised gold Blancpain Fifty Fathoms logo on the dial that stands out in the light.

I have been collecting divers for many years. The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is my favorite watch model, and I particularly cherish these two old mermaids. I wear them with care on a regular basis like all my watches and enjoy looking at them revealing their charming patina under different light conditions.