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Luxury Wristwear - Automatic Watches, Skeleton Designs, Exotic Leather Straps & Polished Finishes
Luxury Wristwear - Automatic Watches, Skeleton Designs, Exotic Leather Straps & Polished Finishes Luxury Wristwear - Automatic Watches, Skeleton Designs, Exotic Leather Straps & Polished Finishes
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Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 'Barakuda' Limited Edition
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 'Barakuda' Limited Edition
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$ 78.78

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Product Details

The Fifty Fathoms is without question one of the most iconic dive watches, and also one of the first of its kind; however, it might never have been made at all were it not for one man — Jean-Jacques Fiechter of Blancpain.

In 1952, the French Navy tasked two veterans with a formidable mission. These men — Captain Bob Maloubier and Lt. Claude Riffaud — were to create a specialized unit of combat divers meant to act under the utmost secrecy. Some of their missions were to include attacking ports as well as sabotage.

Maloubier and Riffaud  had a general idea of what gear the divers needed — compasses, depth gauges, and of course, watches. But as far as watches were concerned, there was nothing on the market designed specifically for the use to which these combat divers would put it.

So Maloubier, armed with a pencil and protractor, sketched a watch. Not just any watch, but one ideally suited for diving. It needed to have a robust, watertight case and a dial that would be legible in the darkest of nights, at the deepest of depths.

Blancpain was the only manufacturer that agreed to produce Maloubier's new design. Fiechter, Blancpain’s CEO at the time, relied on Maloubier's expertise and his own diving experience — he had once nearly run out of air underwater for lack of a timing device — to create a unique timepiece equipped with a Bakelite bezel and rubber gaskets. Thus, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms dive watch was born.

This particular Fifty Fathoms, a Reference 5008B-1130, is a faithful recreation of the Blancpain ‘Barakuda’, a robust model created specifically for the German Navy, or Bundesmarine — which is what it was known as at the time. Issued to its combat swimmers, this piece was characterized by its distinguishable two-tone indices with red stripes.

It features a 40mm stainless steel case, a fully-graduated sapphire timing bezel with patinated finishing, a domed sapphire crystal, the manufacture’s namesake engraved on the 9 o’clock case flank, and a exhibition sapphire caseback framing the Calibre 1151 self-winding movement.

The luminous, matte-black dial features printed indices with a matching, patinated finish and the signature distal red stripe; a matching handset; a ‘spear’ central-seconds hand; and a framed date window at 3 o’clock. 

Equipped with 300 meters of water resistance, 100 hours of power reserve, and appropriately outfitted to a signed, Tropic-style strap, this piece is more than just a pretty thing — it’s robustly made and timelessly designed.

What’s more, it was part of a limited-edition release of just 500 units. This example is individually numbered ‘173’ and is accompanied by a signed leather folio; books; a dated warranty card; and one of our fantastic Analog:Shift watch boxes.

Want to be a proud owner of a dive watch icon? This is your chance!

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Luxury Wristwear - Automatic Watches, Skeleton Designs, Exotic Leather Straps & Polished Finishes
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