SINGAPORE (Sept 15): Blancpain’s storied Fifty Fathoms collection is a veritable historical treasure trove and, this year, another of its unique legacies comes to light in the form of the Fifty Fathoms Barakuda, a watch that harks back to the 1960s during the ascent of the collection.
The world’s first bona fide dive wristwatch, the Fifty Fathoms debuted in 1953 as a military-grade dive instrument and quickly became the standard bearer for all deep-sea tool watches. In fact, key dive watch features pertaining to minimum water resistance, legibility and safety that were originally established in the first Fifty Fathoms watch eventually found their way into modern-day ISO standards, with the ISO 6425 established in 1996.
Among the Fifty Fathoms’ first adopters were the French military combat swimmers and, shortly after, military forces from around the world, including the German, British and US Navies. The Fifty Fathoms Barakuda hails from this particular era; an offspring of civilian watches that were modelled after the military issues made for the German Bundesmarine during the 1960s. If you are wondering, the name Barakuda is taken from the local company that supplied those watches to the German military.
| Case | 40.3mm stainless steel with unidirectional sapphire bezel |
| Dial | Black with 'old radium' Super-LumiNova |
| Movement | Self-winding calibre 1151 |
| Strap | Tropical rubber |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, seconds and date |
| Power Reserve | 100 hours |
| Price | $19,500 |
