A tourbillon is extremely difficult to
put together. It requires exceptionally
advanced skills and training.
It’s astonishing to witness a watchmaker putting these beautiful and complex movements together.
Enameling work is extraordinarily meticulous, precise, and unforgiving.
The Blancpain Métiers d’Art department also works with select Japanese
artisanal techniques like creating Rokusho patina on Shakudo (mix of copper
and gold) surfaces or crafting dials using Binchōtan, a charcoal made from
Ubamegashi oak in Japan. Each person that works at Atelier Métiers d’Art
has to make his or her own tools to achieve the highest level of work.
ATELIER VINTAGE
The last department visit of my tour of La Ferme was the Vintage
department. Given that Blancpain is the oldest brand in the watch industry,
having a dedicated vintage division makes sense.
There are currently three watchmakers in Blancpain’s vintage workshop,
all of whom have undergone intense training about Blancpain’s history and
brand values since the ultimate goal of restoring a vintage Blancpain watch is
to keep the piece as original as possible. Each vintage piece sent in by clients
are thoroughly inspected, serviced, and tested by the watchmakers and
every piece is sent back with a certificate of origin.
58 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2020
The visit culminated with a look at the fascinating Blancpain 1735
Grande Complication watch. First introduced in 1991, the Blancpain 1735
was the world’s most complicated timepiece for many years, bringing
together a tourbillon, perpetual calendar, moon phase display, split-
seconds chronograph, and minute repeater all in one slim wristwatch
comprised of around 740 parts. Limited to just thirty pieces, each
Blancpain 1735 Grande Complication required one watchmaker to
assemble it over the course of a year. This is what Blancpain is about:
a tradition of horology where dedication to the art of crafting a grand
complication demands absolute perfection.
After meeting all these fantastic professionals working at Blancpain,
seeing marvelous timepieces, and learning so much about different
watchmaking techniques, it was time for a nice lunch in the mountains where
I could reflect upon my visit.
I was thoroughly impressed by how Blancpain cares about their
employees; not only by the work environment the company maintains but
also by the creative freedom it gives to everyone working there.