Currently, the Gombessa Expeditions (which studies some of the rarest marine creatures and terrestrial phenomena), with which Blancpain has been collaborating for 10 years, is located in the Rangiroa atoll in French Polynesia. It is here that various technical dives, observations and information gathering on the Sphyrna mokarran (the great hammerhead shark) take place, with the aim of contributing to the development of appropriate measures for its preservation.
These dives were also instrumental in the development and fine-tuning of the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa, which opens a new chapter in the history of the famous diver in the year of its 70th anniversary: an unprecedented model featuring an innovation co-developed by Marc A. Hayek, President & CEO of Blancpain, and Laurent Ballesta, founder of Gombessa. The new diver makes it possible for the first time to measure dive time with a time lapse of up to 3 hours.
On the unidirectional rotating bezel with ceramic insert is an unusual immersion time scale of up to 3 hours, combined with a central hand with a trapezoidal, green-emitting tip (the hand with a triangular tip is for seconds), which makes one revolution of the dial in the same time interval.
The indices on the bezel are also green-emitting. The hour/minute hands and hour markers are orange with blue emission, and the dial features a novel, absolute black finish, whose structure can capture the 97% of light.
The 47 mm case is particularly light thanks to the use of titanium 23, the purest there is. Water-resistant to 30 atmospheres, the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa is equipped with a helium valve at 10 o'clock and is driven by the calibre 13P8, mechanical automatic (70-hour power reserve). Note the central attachment to the case of the black rubber strap (with extension inside the case), as well as the distinctive openwork rotor with the Gombessa logo at its centre.
Price29,200 euro.
