THE BLANCPAIN ETHIC
1 There will never be a quartz Blancpain watch
The mechanical watch will never die?
No, never. The clock in the tower at St. Mark’s Square in Venice is still running, and it’s almost a thousand years old!
> A mechanical watch, created in the spirit of the traditional watchmaker’s art, is not just a combination of components and gearwheels; in its complexity, it is a testimonial to one or more generations of watchmakers. The mechanical watch is a mark of man’s dreams and efforts. It is also tangible evidence of man’s extraordinary creativity, his unique capacity for invention.
> This evidence, this testimonial is handed down from one generation to the next, often from a father to his son. Unlike quartz watches, mechanical watches have a soul.
2 The challenge of the six masterpieces
What is definition of a masterpiece in watchmaking?
During the 400 years of their history, the master watchmakers created six different masterpieces (the ultra-slim movement, the moon phase calendar, the perpetual calendar, the split-seconds chronograph, the Tourbillon and the minute repeater), each requiring exceptional knowledge and total self-mastery.
> It is true that other brands, by turns, have executed one or more of these masterpieces. But Blancpain was the first brand in the world to offer them all at the same time, back in 1988.
3 The need to specialize
How would you describe Blancpain’s specialization?
Blancpain’s specialization is evident, first, in its striving: the need to produce exceptional quality, along with detailed yet broad expertise, enable Blancpain to add to its list of exclusive products and world’s firsts every year, but that is not all.
> To give Blancpain watches a strong identifying characteristic, Blancpain reduced the shape to bare essentials. Blancpain wanted to appeal to connoisseurs, to those who understand that mechanical watches depend on their movement for their essence, and to those who prefer what is natural and reject what is superfluous.
4 The message of the mechanical watch
For most people, a watch is used for telling time. What are the real contributions of high-end watchmaking?
To appreciate the art of watchmaking, you have to open up a high-end watch and look at the beauty of the materials, the polishing, the colors that seem to serve no purpose, because these are details that will probably not be seen by anyone. Tradition even forbade them from being shown.
> Nothing is more moving than the inner beauty of watches. What other object hides such an invisible treasure within?
5 Le Brassus
Why did the historical development of the watchmaking industry center on Switzerland’s Jura region?
When the Edict of Nantes was revoked, the Huguenots fled France and took refuge in Geneva. Among them were many highly skilled watchmakers. They soon felt quite cramped, and left Geneva for the mountains, the Jura from Vaud to Basel, passing through Granges and Solothurn. There they found seasonal workers: farmers who excelled in minute, meticulous work. These farmers, after polishing at length, eventually expanded their abilities. Gradually, they began making watches and, over the centuries, they became involved in high-end watchmaking.
6 The essentials
Who are the enthusiasts who prefer Blancpain’s sober lines?
There was a 23-year-old joiner who wrote to Blancpain. He had received a thousand francs for his master’s and had saved a thousand francs. He paid a deposit of fifteen hundred francs to a retailer in Winterthur, and then he paid 100 francs every month. That’s how he bought himself a 4,000-franc watch.
> Blancpain inspires passions in the most unexpected people. And a beautiful watch is something magical. It has often been said that a Blancpain is the most beautiful watch, the purest, most pared down, and yet at the same time, the most sophisticated.
> Someone who buys a Blancpain is both simple and cultivated. To appreciate something so pared down, you have to recognize what is essential.
> Since Blancpain appeals to culture lovers, Blancpain are necessarily dealing with a sensitive public. Only people in that milieu recognize each other as fellow members, sometimes through a Blancpain watch, which can be a sign, a language, or an act of humility and simplicity.
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