Blancpain

I have been hunting this watch for a couple years. After seeing a Blancpain Bund 3h in person it reignited my quest to locate the cleanest civilian bund. I was lucky enough to buy this watch from a guy in England. Brian

Maybe it is time to post a family picture of your FF collection, my friend?

Well done, Brian.

I'm personaly on the hunt for a 3 / 6 / 9 / 12, a Bund ( round case ), and a very special Milspec, before closing this thema.

Aren't we totally crazy?

Best, and congratulations on this NEW one.

Nicolas.

took real good care of this watch.

Congratulations on this great purchase.

Best regards,

George

Awesome looking watch and will look great on a variety of straps. Enjoy!

congrats and wear in the best of health

J

Is it exactly the same as the military version.

Would love to see some side by sides with that one.

How many FF do you have now ! ;-)

Steven

Thanks guys. Its nice to have watch Blancpain that you can swim with and not be concerned about damaging! I have four blancpain at this time and one is getting service. I will get my watches out of storage when my barakuda is back from service and get a group shot.

Nicolas you make me very curious on which milespec that you are hunting????? I am assuming it has some military background?

There are a few differences between the military and civilian. The lugs are drilled thru on the military. There is a slight variation between the bezels ratcheting system. But they both have a nice nice large presents on the wrist! Brian

A captivating bronze case...



Best, my friend.

Nicolas.

Nicolas

You have peaked my interest! The only bronze cases know were the US Navys and i owned a early type 1 3/6/9/12 dial and i thought i remember seeing a nice milspec with a bronze case. Can't wait to see her! Brian

I took a picture of it....

The 2d from the left, just close to the US Navy.



There is a very few numbers between the US Navy and this special Milspec.

I'm still doing my homework on this one, though, and will see what I decide later this year...

Best,

Nicolas. This message has been edited by amanico on 2011-06-19 22:36:46

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I can't sadly find the post where we spoke about that...

Best,

Nicolas; This message has been edited by amanico on 2011-06-22 06:54:47

Now you mention it, I recall that exchange. My curiousity was piqued in this thread - I thought there might be some new information.

Found it: blancpain.watchprosite.com =

Also in reading the US Diving Manuals, it would seem they recommend washing all dive gear (which will mainly be their RBs, suits, etc, but will have included the watches and gauges) in de-ionised water....which supports my covoluted hypothesis.

Will try to have closer look inside the watch, to see how is the metal.

Though, it can't explain why only a very few of them came with this color...

Best,

Nicolas.

....the caseback was not of the same colour, it remained bright stainless steel. So whether the 'bronzing' is intentional or not could best be answered by removing the caseback and inspecting the inside of the case.

In any case, I still cling to the hypothesis that it is a form of corrosion due to the leeching out of the surface chromium.

and I've learnt something new - that there is a civilian version.

I remeber when I was hunting my 3H bund, that I was steering clear of potential civilian versions, as a) I wasn't aware such a model existed, and b) at that time, there were lots of thin case (aka Squale 50atm) supposid versions on the market for sale - obviously the forgers dream, to stick a blanpain dial into a cheap squale case.

I can see that yours has the good think case, and as you say, non drilled lugs for the civilian model, and I guess it probably has a ratcheted uni-directional bezel?

I wonder how many civilian versions that where genuine I passed on for fear it didn't exist / wasn't real, because importantly as you say, I also would love to have one that I could use underwater.

You've got a great example there!!

cheers Tony

 

Thanks Tony. Its a massive case! Its what i like to call a modern Blancpain that could dive! Brian

I think that Nicolas took this photo at the exhibition opening show. Brian

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There was a discussion a year ago on the MWR forum and they are definitely correct. Brian

That's interesting. Thanks, Brian. I'll search around MWR. 

Strange low lume hands for a dive watch...which is where my question came from

Could you kindly PM me a link to the MWR discussion? I had a trawl around there and couldn't locate any threads discussing the non-diver looking hands on that exhibition FF96...