We are back with our weekly newsletter, after an intense start to the season, marked by Geneva Watch Week at the end of August - where we highlight the new Bulgari Finissimo CarbonGold, whose name recalls one of the House's best sellers, the 1993 Bulgari total black with gold details - and the VO'Clock Privé in September, which saw us in the spotlight together with other colleagues from the press and digital worlds, to propose a wide and varied panel of content to enthusiasts.
But the real star of this month's watchmaking conversations is the Swatch X Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms, which echoes the MoonSwatch operation, this time in collaboration with the house that set the standard for modern diver's watches in 1953.
If it was predictable, after the first teasers, that the collaboration between the two Swatch Group companies would involve the Fifty Fathoms, one could hardly guess at the configuration of the watch, which generated the same excitement as the MoonSwatch.
Curiously, days after the launch, I have noticed that doubts remain in the audience. Better to clarify them. First of all, let us remember that the Swatch X Blancpain is not a Blancpain, of course, but a Swatch that pays homage to an iconic product of the Le Brassus brand.
Made of bio-ceramic (light, unscratchable and unchangeable in colour), water-resistant to 91 metres (50 fathoms), it is fitted with a mechanical movement, much to the chagrin of those who feared that it would contradict the motto 'Since 1735, there has never been a quartz Blancpain. And never will exist'.
The automatic mechanical calibre is the Sistem 51, a revolutionary Swatch movement made from a total of just 51 components, forming five separate modules joined together in a single body, secured at the centre by a single screw. The only drawback: the watch is not repairable. But, let's remember again: it's a Swatch, not a Blancpain.
