Blancpain isn’t any stranger to women mechanical timepieces. The Le Brassus manufacture introduced the world’s first self-winding watch for girls in 1930 and swiftly adopted up Its famed Ladybird assortment – by the way the world’s smallest spherical watch with the thinnest spherical mechanical motion (Calibre R550 handbook winding motion ) of the 50s (1956 to be exact), specifically for girls.
Calibre R550 handbook winding motion
Therefore, over 60 years on and proper on the precipice of one other golden age of women watchmaking spurred on by Chinese language demand, Blancpain has elected to supply a particular “Valentine’s Day 2020” jewelry watch as an ode to like. Not content material to be a mere ladies’s watch with a generic motion encased in a diamond encrusted case, Blancpain is not only releasing an elegant art deco impressed jewelry timepiece, the Saint-Valentin 2020 comes with a model new, devoted Calibre 510.
The Calibre 510 is the third of devoted ladies’s calibres produced this 12 months (to this point) – Zenith launched their first ladies’s solely assortment within the Defy Midnight and Bvlgari debuted a formed tourbillon motion for his or her Serpenti Seduttori; however what makes Blancpain’s Saint-Valentin 2020 so interesting is that horological lovers will recall one other beautiful rectangular, miniature ladies’s motion – artisan watchmaker Henri Rodanet’s LeCoultre & Cie 101 – a milestone of heritage watchmaking after which, one of many smallest mechanical actions on the earth.
Blancpain’s Valentine’s Day 2020 Calibre 510 will not be fairly as diminutive however at 2.6 mm skinny (thinner than the JLC 101 motion’s 3.4mm) and with 25.2mm x 12mm proportions (in comparison with the 14mm x 4.8mm) and offering 52 hours energy reserve, it does really feel like its the nice outdated days of watchmaking over again.
JLC calibre 101 for comparability
The 14-piece restricted version Saint-Valentin 2020 is a veritable jewel, impressed by a surprising Blancpain night watch as soon as owned by Marilyn Monroe. The oblong white gold Art Deco type case is ready with 84 diamond together with two beneficiant marquise-lower gems; whereas its mom-of-pearl dial, inlaid with two hearts, is adorned with two sensible-lower diamonds and two valuable butterflies manufactured from diamond and ruby hearts.
A uncommon event of sensuality meets technicality on the Blancpain Saint-Valentin 2020 because the attractive aesthetic of its face is matched by the skeletonised marvel that’s the calibre 510 seen by means of sapphire caseback – symmetry between its stability-wheel and its barrel lend each delicacy and visible equilibrium to this two-tone mechanical motion courtesy of the totally different supplies utilized in executing bridges and the going-practice and escapement, whereas the chamfered end of its bridges provides a smooth and lightweight contact.
On this age of wokeness, the bejewelled ladies’s watch additionally calls to thoughts the model’s first feminine watch model proprietor and director, Betty Fiechter, who added her female imaginative and prescient to a decidedly male-dominant technical business. The particular “Valentine’s Day 2020” watch is accessible with a calf leather-based strap secured by a pin buckle set with a superb-lower diamond. This dazzling timepiece completely embodies the spirit of Blancpain.
Blancpain Saint-Valentin 2020 Worth and Specs
Motion Guide winding Calibre 510 with 52 hours energy reserve
Case 16mm white gold case with 30 metres water resistance
Strap Leather-based
Worth TBA