Spotlight: Blancpain Villeret collection

One of my favourite things about mechanical watchmaking is that it is steeped in tradition and is something which goes back centuries. Combine that with my penchant for dress watches, and you will start to understand why I have chosen for this week’s article to put the Blancpain Villeret collection under the Watch Affinity Spotlight.

The history of Blancpain can be traced back to 1735 when it founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in the small Swiss town of Villeret (after which this collection is named), making it the oldest watch brand in the world still around today. The brand remained in the family for around 200 years, before the seventh-generation owner passed away in 1932 and left the company to his assistant, Betty Fiechter. Today, Blancpain is a part of the Swatch Group.

Traditional watchmaking is a core part of Blancpain’s ethos – even during the tumultuous quartz crisis period, the manufacture has never produced a single quartz watch, instead choosing to focus on the traditions of mechanical watchmaking upon which it was built.

This is something I really admire, and for me personally this tradition is an important part of what I look for in a timepiece. Factor in my love for a classical dress watch, and you can start to understand why Blancpain’s Villeret collection is a particular favourite of mine – a huge number of unique references with a remarkable range complications, sizes and materials, all of which are built on a foundation of tradition.

Blancpain Villeret collection

With over 200 unique models, I thought the best way to start would be to talk about some of the common themes which run through the collection, and then highlight some particular references to illustrate various points.

The size of each watch, excepting a few outliers such as high complication watches or deliberately smaller pieces under 33mm designed with ladies in mind, falls into the sweet-spot size category of between 38 and 42mm inclusive (in fact this accounts for almost three quarters of the collection). Additionally, unlike a lot of other high-end brands, watches are available in steel as well as the staple array of precious metals. I think this is hugely important as it serves to make the Villeret collection one which becomes more accessible to those looking to invest in a timepiece from a high horology manufacture.

Regardless of material or size, each watch features a sapphire caseback to view a beautifully finished, in-house mechanical movement.

Each case features a unique ‘double-step’ which, when looking at the watch from the front, almost acts like a circular frame and delivers some depth and a visual detail to each piece. I think this is a clever addition as a lot of watches in the collection are relatively simple, with – for example – a white dial and subtle silver colour Roman numerals. For non-complicated pieces in the collection such as three-hand pieces or with a date complication, this double-step serves to elevate the overall look.

As I have just alluded to, the vast majority of references have a timeless white dial adorned with Roman numerals – both of which are common features of a dress watch. There are of course a handful of exceptions, including some instances of diamond hour markers in place of numerals, or a blue, black or silver dial, however the fundamentals of the Villeret design remain true throughout the collection.

The majority of references are available on an alligator leather strap, with varying colours available, with a deployant clasp. Whilst the deployant can be a little tricky to get to grips with the first few times you try it, it is my preferred buckle choice with a leather strap as you can set it to the correct size you need, and then when it comes to taking the watch on and off there is much less wear and tear on the leather and the strap will last far longer.

Some references are available with a Mille Mailles bracelet as an alternative, comprising hundreds of individual components which are interlinked together piece by piece by the artisans at Blancpain’s manufacture. The look of these is quite distinctive and elegant, and offers an almost vintage aesthetic – you can see an example a little further down this page.

So, if this is what we find to be common across the collection, let’s take a look at some of the range of this collection.

Complicated Watches

As a high-end manufacture, Blancpain produce an array of complicated watches. These reside in the Villeret collection and include everything from minute repeaters to tourbillons and carrousels, and of course the calendars and moon phase complications for which Blancpain is perhaps better known.

In fact, in 1991 Blancpain produced 30 instances of the most complicated wristwatch at the time. The 1735 grande complication included a tourbillon, a moon phase, a perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and a split-second chronograph. In total, this movement comprised a colossal 740 individual parts, all within a 35.9mm diameter and 12.15mm thick movement. Despite all these complications and displays on the dial, the watch still maintained the Villeret collection traits and is quite refined to look at.

Today’s Villeret collection might not stretch as far as a grande complication like the 1735, however there are some high-end pieces which combine more than one complication. Shown below is a Tourbillon-Carrousel which also includes a small date indication. The Carrousel was a complication originally designed in 1892 by Dane Bahne Bonniksen. It was designed to solve the same problem as a tourbillon, and achieves it a technically, subtly different way. This piece if the first time that the two have been combined into a single watch:

Of the more accessible complications, and perhaps one for which Blancpain is better known, is the various incarnation of moon phase calendar watches. This particular complication is a favourite of mine, despite the fact that it doesn’t really add much value to everyday life – I can’t imagine many situations where an individual might want to glance at their wrist to check the phase of the moon! I just find an inherent romanticism about the moon phase as a reminder that time is constructed not just around hours and minutes, but days, months, and even years. Plus, it just looks very elegant!

Anyway, to give you an idea of how core the moon phase is for Blancpain, the complication is incorporated across almost one third of the entire Villeret collection including both perpetual and complete calendars, monopusher and rattrapante chronographs, and of course as a complication on its own.

The Blancpain moon phase is a signature complication and are for the most part distinctively decorated with a face, and stars in the surrounding sky. For some of the references with moon phase complications designed specifically for ladies, the moon also has closed eyes with longer eyelashes and a beauty spot, which I think is perhaps a little unnecessary.

It is often accompanied with a date display around the circumference of the dial, with one of two particular styles of hand. For larger size watches where there is the space for a longer hand, the curved serpentine hand is used, which for decoration is heated to turn the steel of the hand blue. With smaller sizes, we see a hand with a red crescent at the end which is used to indicate the date. Examples of each of these are in the photos above.

One of the great innovations pertaining to the calendar watches from Blancpain is the inclusion of under-lug correctors. Normally, on a complicated calendar watch, there are a series of corrector holes visible around the caseband, where adjustments are made by pressing on the corrector hole with a small tool. What Blancpain have created ensures that the caseband of a complicated calendar watch remains unblemished by these corrector holes, where different displays can be adjusted at any time, completely independently of one another, by pressing a discreet lever situated under each of the lugs, each corresponding to a different display.

Less Complicated Watches

In addition to the complicated watches of the collection, there are of course those which are less complicated including displays for perhaps the date, the day of the week, or a power reserve indication.

Those with fewest complications are predominantly two or three hand ultraplate models, or three hand models with an accompanying small date display, for which the reduction in complication is compensated by an ultra-thin movement (you can read more on ultra-thin watchmaking here) with impressive power reserve. For instance, Blancpain’s calibre 11A4B with hours and minutes hands only, measures only 2.8mm thick with an impressive 95 hours when fully wound, and calibre 1151 with hours, minutes, and seconds hands with a date display, measures only 3.25mm thick and has a slightly higher power reserve of 100 hours when fully wound.

As I mentioned before, further to the Ultraplate pieces there are various other complications available as a part of the collection. This includes a variety of date displays from the more typical aperture placed at 3 o’clock through to grande date displays, day-date pieces, and then GMT and power reserve indication complications.

The reference highlighted below is one of my favourite examples combining these features, with a retrograde day display and grande date situated between 5 and 6 o’clock. The retrograde day indication will tick clockwise from Monday to Tuesday and so on, until it reaches Sunday. At the point when Sunday finishes and we go back to Monday again, the hand will move anti-clockwise to in a single movement to once again display Monday.

The grande date display comprises two individual wheels in the movement: the first to display 0, 1, 2 or 3; the second to display 1 through to 9. The wheels rotate such that when you tick from 09 to 10, or 19 to 20, both numbers will switch at the same time instantaneously and rotate in opposite directions such that the numerals in the middle both move in the same direction as well.

Both complications can be adjusted manually by using the under-lug correctors shown earlier.

Ladies Watches

Far be it from me to suggest what watches the ladies in our lives should enjoy – I think there are many watches of various sizes in the Villeret collection which lend themselves beautifully to adorning wrists of both ladies and gents, with around three quarters of the watches falling between 38 and 42mm.

That being said, there are a few watches in the collection that have been designed specifically with ladies in mind as well. These are smaller in size, at either 29mm or 33mm cases, and are simple three-hand pieces or ones which show the date, often accompanied by the moon phase complication. As I mentioned earlier, the ladies’ moon phase features both eyelashes and a beauty spot on the moon, which I’m sure some people will enjoy but may not be to everyone’s taste.

The really refreshing thing with ladies watches in this collection is that they aren’t just smaller with diamonds and a quartz movement as you might often find. No, every single Blancpain watch features a beautifully finished, mechanical movement, which you’re able to enjoy through a sapphire caseback.

And whilst the pieces are certainly smaller, they aren’t all lavishly adorned with diamonds on the dial and/or bezel – there are a multitude of options which include dials and bezels free from diamonds, which makes them both more accessible and better suited to everyday wear. Take for example the model below, a 33mm steel case featuring the automatic calibre 1191 which itself measures just 3.25mm thick and offers and impressive 100 hours of power reserve when fully wound. The entire watch measures just 8.92mm thick, and the result is a beautiful high-horology watch that could easily be worn for most occasions.

In Summary

From this whistle-stop tour of Blancpain’s Villeret collection, I hope you’re able to get a sense of the variety on offer. Personally I think it ticks a lot of boxes in terms of what it offers: a high horology brand with a long, rich history, a range of variety in both materials and complications across the collection, and dress watches which could just as easily be suited to everyday wear.

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