Drawing on the invaluable heritage of the 1953 Fifty Fathoms, and above all on his own experiences, Blancpain’s CEO Marc A. Hayek embarked on the design – alongside diver, photographer and underwater biologist Laurent Ballesta – of a new mechanical instrument that meets the needs of all extreme divers, starting with the members of the Gombessa Expeditions whose research work involves long-duration deep dives. The Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa watch is designed to measure the duration of up to three-hour-long tech dives or exits from a saturation system
Since the 1950s, diving has experienced a major evolution, notably characterised by an obvious extension of immersion times. While the 1953 Fifty Fathoms met the requirements of Jean-Jacques Fiechter and the most experienced divers of the time, those now capable of spending several hours underwater have new requirements for time measurement.
Conceived five years ago by the two divers, this watch has been extensively tested. In 2019, after a year of conceptualisation, Blancpain began the development of the project, starting with the two key elements represented by the movement and the unidirectional rotating bezel. Unlike the bezels on conventional diver’s watches, the bezel on the timepiece has a three-hour scale. It is linked to a special hand that completes one full turn in three hours and whose material and colour – a white luminescent coating with green emission – match those of its markers.
This device invented jointly by Hayek and Ballesta is a world first for which a patent has been filed. It is the heart of the 13P8 self-winding movement, based on the same criteria of reliability and robustness that have made the Fifty Fathoms the ultimate diver’s watch for 70 years. The watch had to look like a Fifty Fathoms while exhibiting distinct tech attributes. Blancpain’s designers therefore opted for a bezel inlay in black ceramic – instead of the traditional sapphire – which they decided to endow with a stronger curve and tilt it towards the dial.
The latter’s legibility is optimised by a spherical crystal that eliminates any visual distortion. To ensure the best possible readability in the dark, the dial has a new finish: absolute black that captures almost 97% of the light. The hour-markers are formed by luminescent block-shaped appliques, in orange with blue emission – colour codes picked up on the hours and minutes hands to differentiate between time-related information and diving times. Grade 23 titanium chosen for the case is also known as grade 5 ELI (extra low interstitials) and is the purest type of titanium available. It is distinguished by exceptional strength and anti-allergenic properties, while being remarkably light, making the watch comfortable to wear and guarantees a barely-there feel on the wrist despite the 47 mm diameter – especially needed since the watch – in a first for Blancpain – has central lugs attached from the inside of the case middle and integrating the strap.
Water-resistant to 30 bar, the case is equipped with a helium valve. During saturation diving in a hyperbaric chamber, helium manages to seep into the watch. During the decompression phase, unscrewing the valve facilitates the evacuation of the helium (a manipulation that has no effect on the watch’s water resistance). The notches of the helium valve are identical to those of the winding and time-setting crown that enables simultaneous setting of the hours, minutes and dive-time hands. As with all Fifty Fathoms timepieces, the crown is screwed down and associated with a crown guard that now features a new trapeze-shaped design ensuring visual consistency with the lugs.
The lower part of the case middle is bevelled rather than the rounded ‘bassine’ shape characterising the other Fifty Fathoms models. The notches used to screw in the case back have also been reworked. The anthracite-coloured oscillating weight, stamped with the Gombessa Expeditions logo, features an innovative shape dominated by three large openings through which to admire the movement. The black rubber strap is screwed to the back of the lugs. It has an internal titanium reinforcement, guaranteeing ideal long-term shape, and is teamed with an extension for wearing the watch over a tech-diving suit. The buckle with its extremely wide and ergonomic pin has been designed to reinforce the hold of the watch to the wrist and to facilitate fastening the extension.
The watch comes in a special Peli presentation box that is water-resistant, shock-resistant, reusable and configurable. The case houses a rest for the watch, the strap extension, a travel pouch, a magnifying glass, as well as a set of dividers and cutting tools offering the possibility of compartmentalising it for any future use.
The Tech Gombessa is the result of a multitude of tests in real-life conditions. Marc A. Hayek personally tried several different prototypes of the watch during his dives, as did aquanauts for an almost 50-day trial period at a depth of 120 metres as part of the Gombessa V and Gombessa VI missions. The Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa watch is the official timepiece of the Gombessa expeditions.
Its launch honours the Fifty Fathoms’ 70th anniversary and the ten years of collaboration between Blancpain and Laurent Ballesta – whose Gombessa project was born in 2013 thanks to the involvement of the Manufacture as founding partner. It also inaugurates a new line, the Fifty Fathoms Tech, which will encompass all Blancpain watches dedicated to technical diving.
