Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 2 – Tech Gombessa

Quick specs Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 2 – Tech Gombessa
Price: € 28.700 | CHF 26’300 | $ 28,000 | £ 24,700
Size: 47 mm
Reference: 5019-12B30-64A

Diving into the deep of the ocean, Blancpain has developed its titanium expertise to create the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 2 – Tech Gombessa. It celebrates the 70th anniversary of their famous Fifty Fathoms diver and supports the Gombessa Expeditions. Which are set-up by diver, photographer and underwater biologist Laurent Ballesta. The members of the Gombessa Expeditions do research involving long-duration deep dives, and with the support of Blancpain they develop several projects.

One of these projects is the multi-year Tamataroa mission, where Blancpain’s CEO Marc A. Hayek and Laurent Ballesta team up to conserve the wildlife around the French Polynesian atoll Rangiroa. With long and deep dives they and a team of dedicated divers especially study the behavior of the great hammer shark. This leads to a collaboration between Blancpain and the Gombessa Team where Hayek and Ballesta are thinking about an ideal diver for their projects. And make that happen.

In 2018 Blancpain makes the first concepts of the watch, in 2019 the development starts and the later first prototypes are tested intensively and thoroughly during long and deep dives. After spending a lot of times in hyperbaric chambers, a month of close circuit diving living in a 5m2 hyperbaric chamber four prototype are challenged, and different types of helium valves get a try-out. And after these years of testing, the result is a serious diving watch.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 2 – Tech Gombessa is for real deep diving, so it’s big

For sure, the watch is big, as a proper diver should be. Its titanium case measures 47 millimeters to house a black dial with large hours and minutes hands, markers and Arabic numerals. All of which are set with orange luminescent material that contrasts the dial perfectly. On the outside, on the black ceramic unidirectional bezel, and on the two other hands is white luminescent material that lights up green. Wait, two other hands?

The purpose of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 2 – Tech Gombessa is to measure ones diving time up to three hours without adjusting the bezel. This is why the bezel has a three-hour scale. Because most oxygen tanks for diving only last for 3 hours. The thin hand with the white tip is for the regular seconds, the big hand with the white tip follows the bezel scale. Which means this hand makes a full rotation every three hours. In other words: this watch has a dedicated hand to measure your diving time where one normally uses the minute hand after setting point zero on the bezel.

Inside the watch is an in-house and brand new 13P8 caliber, an automatic movement supplying a power reserve of 120 hours. And of course it drives the fourth hand. To protect the movement the case has a water resistance of 300 meters, plus a helium escape valve to prevent this gas to get into the watch while in a hyperbaric chamber. It comes with a price, it’s not a limited edition, but it is one of the most advanced Fifty Fathoms models for serious diving.