Blancpain

Well gang I will be on the road tomorrow.  No internet.  No posting.  So need something to fill the gap until I get a connection back.  And the one I picked is the Tourbillon Transparence.  Blancpain made a BIG mistake on this one.  It was limited to only 50 pieces, way too few.  So most will have to enjoy the watch vicariously by looking at photos.

There is one pecularity of the sapphire dial.  Many brands have offered watches with sapphire dials.  What sets this one apart is that it has applied indexes.  I can't say for sure that no other brand has offered a sapphire dial with applied indexes, but at the moment I can't think of one.  I can with confidence say that the overwhelming percentage of sapphire dials do not have applied indexes.  The reason:  it is ferociously hard to do.  In order to mount the index you have to drill microscopic holes in the sapphire as the index is held in place using little feet that mount into the holes.  That drilling has a tendency to crack the sapphire.  Hence the production yield is low.  Anyway, when it works the result is terrific as the indexes appear to float above the movement plates below.  You can really see the floating effect in this shot, particularly if you look at the index at 3 o'clock.

 

See you all in a couple of days.

Jeff

I believe you that technically it is a marvel, but is it worth all that trouble, especially when BP make such beautiful dials?

I look forward to others comments,

Rod

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NT

Maybe UN with its Royal blue tourbillon?

Will have to check that...

Nonetheless, I admire the watch, and the originality of it, but not a big fan...

In this style, I much prefer the Caroussel Volant Une Minute " , as Magnus preseented some months ago.

Best, my friend, and travel safe!

Nicolas

...applied  indexes on sapphire dials are sort of "standard" for RM?
Another one which comes to mind is Omega's  central tourbillon, for example
(well, only three, but the process is the same).
BTW, I might be wrong and Blancpains watchmakers are in fact sitting in the old farmhouse and  "drilling" holes in sapphire - but to my understanding
most of modern sapphire dials are laser cut (and pierced). Working with sapphire dials most likely is still a delicate job, but that's true for almost any
other sort of dial as well. IMO it might be a far more tricky job for example, to get the dial into the case reasonably dust free - especially on dark background (i.e. movement plates) this can be a nightmare



Best regards
Suitbert

Hi Suitbert:

I only know one RM watch really well, the RM010.  On that one it looks like the "indexes" which are like round dots are attached to a ring which goes around the dial and not attached to the dial itself.  Not sure about the Omega central tourbillon as the photo is not clear enough for me to make out how the indexes are attached.

You are quite right, however, in saying that watchmakers don't make dials.  Heaven forbid.  Dial making is its own speciality.  Drilling is now done with laser machinery.  However, I am told there are substantial difficulties associated with the process and that when drilling lots of holes (2 per index after all) cracking remains a very big risk.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for sharing such wonderful pics.