Fifty Fathoms

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The Fifty Fathoms from 1953 was the world's first diving watch .

properties

In 1953, on behalf of the French military , Blancpain developed a mechanical diver's watch with automatic winding and a unidirectional rotating bezel with graduated Bakelite inlay for the combat swimmer unit Les Nageurs de combat , with which the diving time could be displayed. The order was placed by the Navy Captain Robert Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud to the then managing director of Blancpain, Jean-Jacques Fiechter.

This automatic watch was given the name Fifty Fathoms ( English for 'fifty threads') due to its water pressure resistance to a depth of 50 nautical threads (1 fm = 1.829 m), corresponding to a depth of 91.45 m or a pressure difference of around 9 bar . Jacques-Yves Cousteau was seen wearing this watch in his underwater film The Silent World (original title Le Monde du Silence ; winner of the Cannes Film Festival in 1956). The watch case was 42 mm in diameter compared to watches from the 1950s. The crown was sealed with an O-ring , as the screw-down crown was protected by a patent from Rolex in 1953 . In the late 1950s, the Fifty Fathoms Aqua Lung was developed, which was 1000 feet (around 305 m) water resistant. In 1968 the Fifty Fathoms No Radiation was released, in which the Superluminova luminous material on the clock hands and dial did not require any radioactive energy supply.

chronology

year Surname Diving depth other properties
1953 Fifty Fathoms 50 threads = 91.45 m Automatic elevator, illuminated display
Late 50s Fifty Fathoms Aqua Lung 1000 feet = 304.8 m
1968 Fifty Fathoms No Radiation Illuminated display without radioactivity
2007 Fifty Fathoms 300 m

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Saga d'une montre: Blancpain Fifty Fathoms . In: La Revue des Montres . Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  2. ↑ Reyne Haines: Vintage Wristwatches . Krause Publications, March 15, 2010, ISBN 1-4402-1524-3 , p. 25.
  3. ↑ Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tribute to Fifty Fathoms No Radiations . In: Watch Observer . Retrieved July 5, 2015.