Fastwong
1658
I think any brand owned by a big luxury group needs to be considered as inherently different and separate from it's past though that isn't always a bad thing.
For Blancpain, the fact they they do service, restore, and authenticate/document just about any watch ever made whether it's from the original company, the JCB years, or the modern Swatch years, is I think about as good as one can expect these days from any brand as far as historic continuity. There are plenty of heritage brands doing dirty things with their long time customers and products and many new brands doing great things so while provenance is great, I think it's secondary to contemporary brand and product experience.
That said, I think Blancpain is a pretty solid brand today. As far as I can tell, the quality of watches has not not been compromised, they aren't on the hype train (intentional or not), and compared to other more popular brands I think Blancpain is delivering great value in their watches. There aren't many boutiques in the US which is unfortunate but my experience with the boutique in NYC has been great and they do have a watchmaker in house so small things can be taken care in-house rather than having to go to Swatch service.
If I had to complain about something, it would be the excess of limited editions and the refusal to give customers what they want in a regular production product - no date, 40mm, etc. but seeing the push towards bracelets and titanium along with the rumored 40mm release maybe that's changing. More than that for me is that Blancpain doesn't seem to have any desire to lean into innovation or heck, even just incremental improvements like upgrading the bezel ratchet which is pretty mediocre or upgrading the bracelet clasp to something with length adjustment. None of this would stop me from buying a Blancpain though, but it's hard to align with a brand over the long term if they aren't really bringing new things to the table.
Since you're thinking about getting a FF, I will say I love these watches. I'm not sure I'd call them a continuation of the original but I do think they are an authentically good watches which is a rarity these days when many big brands are spending more on marketing and cost cutting production.
More posts:
Thoughts on modern Blancpain
Hi all, I’m new to the Blancpain forum, and have to say it’s a very nice forum with lots of useful information. I am thinking about getting a Fifty Fathoms and have spent the last week going through 3 years’ of posts on the forum to learn as much as I can...
Great post and question.
It’s a re creation of a company’s, by J.CBiver. If you’re looking for the continuation of original , search elsewhere. But if the name itself is enough for you, they make really nice watches. And after all, Lange is not much different and re created in ea...
Thank you for the comments.
I really like the watches themselves, but had no experience of Blancpain so far. I’m calling into the London boutique next week to have a proper look at them.
I think any brand owned by a big luxury group needs to be considered as inherently different and separate from it's past though that isn't always a bad thing.
For Blancpain, the fact they they do service, restore, and authenticate/document just about any watch ever made whether it's from the original company, the JCB years, or the modern Swatch years, is I think about as good as one can expect these days from a...
Thanks Fastwong, you make a lot of interesting points.
I can’t say I disagree with anything you’ve said. In terms of the rumoured 40mm fifty fathoms are there any views when we might see this - maybe 2023?
Good point, I bet they don't have quite the record keeping of some of the other brands especially with the military distribution
I do like that they have the vintage workshop however for service and restoration. At the brand level it is at least an acknowledgement of the importance of older pieces and addresses maybe some of the concerns around brand continuity even if most will ne...
