Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms family of high-end dive watches has been one of my preferred luxury sport watch collections for a short time. At Baselworld 2018 Blancpain introduced a few new versions in the Fifty Fathoms collection including my favorite, which will be this Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique Grande Date 5050. Let’s compare the Fifty Fathoms 5050 together with the still fairly common Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 5015 vintage replica watches, which I analyzed on aBlogtoWatch here. The 5050 is a newer model using an updated movement and distinct case materials. With that said, it’s not a replacement of this 5015, but instead an additional added flavor. The Fifty Fathoms collection in its existing form is certainly an aging version (having been coined in 2007) — although it’s faring well even after over a decade of being on the industry. The 2018 Fifty Fathoms Grande Date 5050 might not get owners of their 5015 to”update,” but it may easily get even more people into wearing what’s a really appealing and good-performing high-end Korean diver’s view.
Blancpain launched the Fifty Fathoms Automatique Grande Date 5050 with two model variants, which only differ in exactly what strap they are paired with. The reference 5050-12B30-B52A comes paired with a really wonderful quality black-colored”sail canvas” strap as pictured, and the reference 5050-12B30-NABA comes onto a black NATO-style strap. Both of these are good sporty strap options but I really wish to find the Fifty Fathoms 5050 on a bracelet. The 5015 includes a steel bracelet option, which I presume is a fantastic look, but the 5050 doesn’t have a bracelet alternative at this moment. The reason I believe is because this new Fifty Fathoms Grande Date is in titanium, and producing the bracelet might be more expensive than what many customers are ready to spend. More sothis is the sole titanium watch of the size to the Fifty Fathoms collection and Blancpain fifty fathoms bathyscaphe vintage replica watches probably wants to wait for a few more watches for this particular case to be utilized if they will produce a matching titanium bracelet. I would also personally love to see a black alligator strap on this watch. The strap is an irregular size at 23mm wide.
Case water resistance remains at 300m and dial legibility is still excellent. Blancpain also continues with their fantastic curved softball crystal-topped rotating diver’s bezel that has luminant painted amounts. Sapphire crystal within the bezel is highly scratch-resistant. The dial itself has a huge date indicator at the 6 o’clock position. Blancpain fifty fathoms 40mm clone has had big date watches previously but most of them had the date window eccentrically set on the dial. With this new motion the big date display with both windows is put in a more symmetrical position. I do miss the 6 o’clock hour index but the dial girth with the huge date complication makes it work out in the end for me. What I am not certain of is if the huge date numerals are painted with luminous material. If that is the case and the date is also presented with Super-LumiNova, I believe that the dial will probably be just that much more appealing.
The movement inside the Fifty Fathoms Automatique Grande Date 5050 is exactly the exact same base movement as the 5015 version with a few essential differences. Also of significance is that the 5050 collection comes with an exhibition caseback now allowing you to see movement while retaining the same amount of water resistance. The bottom grade is”100% in-house created” (as Blancpain likes to forcefully remind us all), and for the Fifty Fathoms Grande Date is popularly known as the caliber 6918B. With haute-horology finishing but a modern and semi-industrial aesthetic, the automated motion also now comprises a silicon hairspring (4Hz operational frequency) while the three mainspring barrels are still offer 120 hours (five days) of power reserve. Blancpain fifty fathoms 50th anniversary fake watches designed the 6918B movement to allow for all the functions — including adjustment of the huge date working with the crown with no requirement for additional pushers.
I admire this mechanical movement quite a bit and like that we can now view it via the caseback with this Fifty Fathoms version. I do however regret Blancpain’s usage of a more generic Blancpain fifty fathoms blue dial replica watch brand rotor design as opposed to something a bit more on-theme to get a dive watch. Previous models had an automated rotor which has been shaped just like a nautilus shell. Something like this, in my view, would have enabled collectors to form a slightly closer, emotional bond with this view. Finally, I would like to add that because of this silicon equilibrium spring, the 5050 (like the 5015) is an”anti-magnetic” watch with a fantastic level of resistance to magnetic fields.
