Seventy years ago the legendary Fifty Fathoms was born. An icon. A watchmaking revolution, signed by the Swiss manufacture Blancpain, which provided the first authentic diving watch designed and certified by professionals. And now Swatch pays tribute to that legendary piece with five models made with Bioceramic material, powered by a SISTEM51 mechanical movement and water resistant up to 91 meters, which has sparked a new revolution. A new craze that has exalted the spirits of collectors and lovers of brands from all over the world. Of the two. From Swatch and Blancpain.
After the overwhelming success of the Moonswatch Bioceramic model, Omega x Swatch launched a little over a year ago, this weekend the firm once again brought down the avenues of luxury with the novelty presented in its boutiques in the eleven selected cities. There were queues on Passeig de Gràcia (in front of the Barcelona store), in Serrano (Madrid) and Juan de Austria (València), as well as in Geneva, London, Paris, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo of fans who did not hesitate to sleeping rough to get one (only one per person was allowed to purchase) of those desire watches.
It is a non-limited collection but it repeats the successful formula of the replica of the Omega Speedmaester that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore in July 1969 when they stepped on the Moon and that Swatch launched (in quartz, for 250 euros) on March 22, 2022. If then Swatch raised its eyes to the sky with the help of Omega, now it submerges it to the oceans with this collaboration with Blancpain called Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms.
They are five mechanical movement watches that cost 390 euros and that, as explained by Gonzalo de Cevallos (the head of the Swatch Group in Spain, experienced this madness firsthand in the store on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona in the same way as Nick Hayek, the director). Swatch Group executive did it in Geneva) faithfully reproduce the hallmarks of the original Fifty Fathoms.
Water resistance (up to 91 meters, or what is the same, fifty strokes or, in English, fifty fathoms), exceptional legibility, secure rotating bezel and anti-magnetic protection are, in addition to their mechanical movement, the hallmarks of these five watches that They refer to the different oceans: Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Antarctic Ocean.
Many young people equipped with dark sweatshirts, chairs, matts and whatever was needed to not lose the batch (some said they were there to later profit from the resale), parents and children (like Álex and Guille, who slept in the front row dreaming with that Blancpain watch and the possibility of also buying the blue Mission to Neptune from the previous collaboration with Omega, which to this day is still a challenge) and expert collectors Nicolás (a Colombian economics student who since the afternoon before the opening illustrated to their queue companions the technical greatness of Blancpain) were some of the many (or few, depending on how you look at it) who were able to buy one of these Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms that have been sold out since yesterday at noon. But more will come. It is not, it is insisted, a limited edition.
