Spotlight: Blancpain Air Command

Blancpain as a brand is one which really resonates with me. The historical aspect of watchmaking appeals to me greatly, and so it is unsurprising that a brand like Blancpain, having been founded in 1735, does so as well. As I read more about the brand, I learned about the archetypal dive watch in the Fifty Fathoms and its rich history, as well as others such as the classic Villeret collection, which is quintessential Blancpain, and the now discontinued Leman.

Despite all this, there was one part of the brand’s history that I didn’t manage to stumble across in my reading, and that was the Blancpain Air Command.

The first I saw of the Air Command was the AC01, a 500-piece limited-edition release in 2019. I remember visiting the boutique and being able to have a look at one of the prototypes of the watch, and I absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, the timing (and the small matter of my bank account!) meant that this watch wasn’t to be for me, however it was one that very much remember enjoying and thinking how much I would have loved to have one.

Thinking the Air Command had been and gone, I was delighted to see that last year Blancpain re-introduced the Air Command with a contemporary new look to the core collection.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the interesting history behind this piece to understand more about where it has come from.

The story of the Air Command

As I mentioned earlier, when I first started reading about Blancpain, the Air Command wasn’t something which appeared on my radar. Looking back, this is unsurprising given the elusive nature of the watch in just about every possible facet.

There appears to be no archived history to speak of as the watch never made it into serial production, although following the 2019 release and the Air Command becoming more talked about, the legend says that there were only ever 12 of the original Air Command prototype watches made in 1957.

With the Fifty Fathoms having been adopted by the United States Navy, the story goes that 12 prototype models of the Air Command were provided to the United States Air Force through Blancpain’s distributor in the US, Allen Tornek. However, as the watch never made into mainstream production, there is no well-known number of how many of the original Air Command watches were made – other than to say that they are exceedingly rare.

In fact, none other than Blancpain CEO Marc Hayek has an original 1957 Air Command in his own personal collection.

The last original Air Command to be seen at auction that I know of was back in 2019, hammering for HKD $1.25m, or approximately £110,000 – I do wonder what one might fetch in the current auction climate, where someone paid practically the same sum for an empty F.P. Journe box…!

Anyway… adhering to the ‘Type 20’ specifications set forth by the French military for pilot watches in the 1950s, the original Air Command was specifically designed with aviators in mind: a dark dial, a 2-register chronograph dial with sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock, clearly legible hands, a countdown bezel with 12 markers (a countdown bezel counts backwards or anti-clockwise towards 0, for instance assisting with navigation where pilots needed to fly a particular heading for a pre-determined period of time), and of course a flyback chronograph function.

The Air Command did briefly reappear as part of the Blancpain Trilogy Series between 1996 and 2003, where the brand reintroduced various models of three particular watches with the intent of celebrating their 1950s heritage with a Fifty Fathoms GMT, a Fifty Fathoms dive watch, and the Air Command – representing land, sea and air respectively. However, these watches all strayed somewhat from the DNA of their originals, and the introduction of a large bezel with large, raised numerals certainly isn’t as popular today as it might have been in the late 1990s.

Perhaps, in retrospect, this might not have been the best way to champion their ancestors.

In stark contrast, you can see from the earlier photos that the 500-piece limited edition AC01 from 2019 was extremely faithful to the original, despite a few subtle differences.

These included slightly larger numerals on the dial, a new movement (with a cool propeller style rotor as shown below) in the F388B as opposed to the original with a Valjoux 222, and the case is 0.5mm larger than the original. There is also no running seconds sub-dial, with this instead replaced with a 12-hour chronograph counter.

With just 500 individuals lucky enough to have secured one, there would have no doubt been many disappointed collectors who were unable to secure one, or the timing wasn’t right. However, with the introduction of the new Air Command AC02 to the core Blancpain collection, the opportunity presents itself once again for collectors to enjoy the Air Command, and for the brand to breathe new life and interest into a perhaps less well-known chapter of their illustrious history.

2021 Blancpain Air Command AC02 Collection

Where the 2019 limited-edition Air Command AC01 was largely faithful to the original, the 2021 core AC02 collection offers two individual references which are clearly intended to bring the Air Command into line with a contemporary design. With blue very much the colour of the past few years, it comes as no surprise to see both references with a blue dial, bezel and strap.

The main difference between the two references is the case material, with a choice of either brushed titanium or red gold, and the colour of the hands changed to match accordingly. The deep blue sunburst dial with the gold certainly exudes a warmer, richer feel to the watch, and in a direct comparison with the two side-by-side I think that the titanium model lacks some of this in contrast.

Blue and gold as a colour palette is a classic pairing for a reason, after all.

At 42.5mm in diameter and 13.77mm thick, the case is the same as was introduced for with the 2019 limited edition Air Command AC01, also offering the same 30 metres water resistance. Although it is interesting to see that with the new AC02, the brushed surfaces are complimented by a polished facet on the lug, introducing a flavour of contemporary luxury to a vintage-inspired tool watch (alongside the sunburst dial versus the black dial of the original and 2019 limited-edition).

Inside the case is the same F388B movement, albeit the core collection doesn’t share the same propeller-styled rotor as the AC01 limited edition, which is replaced with a more conventional design.

The flyback chronograph function is one which enables the wearer to reset the chronograph in one ‘click’ of a pusher, without first having to stop the chronograph with 1 ‘click’ and reset it with another. Having played around with this, I found the pushers to have a solid feel to them and offer a satisfying and enjoyable click when actuated!

On the wrist, the new Blancpain Air Command AC02 has a totally different character to the AC01 limited edition (as would be expected), however what I didn’t expect was to be just as enamoured with the watches – but in a different way. Size-wise, they certainly afford a significant wrist presence which I very much enjoy personally, but regardless I found them to be quite comfortable to wear, especially the titanium with its much-reduced weight in contrast to the gold.

For me the major toss-up between choosing between the two would be the comfort-factor afforded by the titanium model and its lighter weight versus the warmth I felt with the gold version. If money were no object, I do think I would probably lean towards the gold because, ultimately, on the leather strap the watch is still not overly weighty, and I do find it to be more alluring than its titanium counterpart.

With regards the strap, the Air Command AC02 is available on both a deployant clasp or pin-buckle. With the deployant clasp, when setting the size to the strap, the buckle is screwed in place which offers the wearer added security on the wrist which I thought was an interesting feature. However, this of course sacrifices the convenience of being able to change the size quickly and easily, which I imagine could be a bit of a pain long-term.

Regardless, to help with this changing, the watch itself comes with a little Blancpain screwdriver tool.

In Summary

Firstly, a huge thank you to the team at the London boutique for taking the time to show me the new Air Command collection.

One of my favourite things about watches is the anecdotal stories and histories behind both the brands and collections. And, as someone who is a bit of an aviation enthusiast, the story of Blancpain’s Air Command is one which is I find particularly appealing – more so given it is a brand that I have a lot of time for on a personal level.

For me, it is great to see the Air Command joining the core Blancpain collection with the AC02. I really enjoyed getting to see these two new models and I’m positive that they will find a great many suitors – and in opinion this is deservedly so.

Most of all, I am excited to what the brand does with the collection in future and whether there ends up being a greater variety of flavours, akin to the Fifty Fathoms and Villeret collections… perhaps again offering collections representing land, sea and air with the traditional Villeret, Fifty Fathoms dive watch and Air Command pilots watch respectively, just like the Trilogy Series from the late 1990s.

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