When the first variants of the Swatch x Blancpain collaboration were released, I waited in line to get one. I stood for hours outside in the very early morning, with my foldable chair and thermos. Not so much for the watch itself—this wasn’t like the first MoonSwatch where we had no idea if we’d ever see one again—but rather for the friendly, festive atmosphere outside the HQ Drive-Thru in Bienne. In fact, I met people in line that I’m still in contact with today.
The watch I got after the doors opened, the “NoRad,” I ended up not keeping. I liked the concept and generally how it was rendered, but I couldn’t pair it with a strap I enjoyed. The original was a bit too much for me, stripes and color-wise, and any aftermarket option was missing a pin and buckle matching the bioceramic color.
When the black version was released a few months later, I was tempted. But I passed. It felt too “serious,” trying to replicate an actual Fifty Fathoms. Also, the date at 4:30 was not for me.
Finding “the one”
Things changed when the Green Abyss came out. Dark green is my favorite color. It also works great with watches because it doesn’t really clash with anything you wear. After brunch with our friends at the Omega HQ boutique nearby, my family and I popped by the Swatch store. I tried on the most recent flavor of the collab, and it felt perfect.
Lately, I’ve been actively sizing down my “set” (seriously, it’s not a collection). So adding anything else to it was not something I was going to do lightly, even “just a Swatch.” Two months earlier, I still had a couple of divers. But one—the wonderful SKX009—went to my son for his 13th birthday. The other, I had just sold. So, there was a “need.“ (Notice how the air quotes are in bold!)
Hitting the marks
There’s nothing I don’t love about the Green Abyss’s design. The matte case, the smooth mineral crystal, the glossy bakelite-like bezel with that unique Fifty Fathoms font and deep sea pitch black, the delicately shaped indices with a fauxtina so light it may not qualify as fauxtina… And while the piece is more of a Swatch than it is a Blancpain, the association with the brand that was my first love when I discovered mechanical watches 11 years ago—before I even knew what a Daytona or a Speedmaster looked like—makes it all a perfect storm for my vulnerable watch mind.
The Felimare picta-themed caseback design (pic further below) is impressive but a bit too all-over-the-place for my taste. Still, feeling that loud rotor move when I do and watching the seconds hand gently sweep across the dial give that watch the soul that I’ve missed in every single MoonSwatch.
Ever since that Sunday visit to the Drive-Thru, the watch has been my go-to for any water-related activity. In just a month, it’s been in Lake Bienne, on the water slides at Bernaqua, in my mother’s swimming pool, a jacuzzi, and the Atlantic Ocean. While the fabric strap means it takes a while to dry, the comfort it brings in the heat compared to any other material has made it a perfect summer companion. Knowing that the value of the watch—although still real money—is so much less than “serious” alternatives means it can be worn with a free mind, which is priceless.
Wanting more
So nothing to complain about, right? Well… As we all know here, the magic of a beautiful mechanical watch is that there’s some eternity associated with it. Well-kept and serviced, it can outlive you. That was actually the premise on which Jean-Claude Biver relaunched Blancpain, in the early eighties. And while the promise of never doing quartz has been kept, the notion of eternity feels many, many fathoms away when it comes to this collab.
First, there’s the case material. While bioceramic is probably robust enough for my modest water exploits, well, at the end of the day, it still mostly feels like what it’s made of: plastic. It’s comfortable for sure. It just feels very disposable.
Then, there’s the movement. Sistem 51 is a real feat in engineering, providing a Swiss Made mechanical movement on watches starting at less than half the price of the Swatch x Blancpain. With its outer ring rotor, the caseback view is pretty cool too. On the downside, the way it’s assembled—by robots—means it can’t be serviced. While it seems that unlike other Sistem 51s, the Blancpain variant can be opened for the movement to be swapped, it will still have to be a brand new movement. Sure, movement swapping was standard for many now collectible watches in the past—such as the PloProf—but in today’s day and age, we expect the “heart” of the watch to go on forever, even if thousands end up being spent over the years to keep it in motion.
Conflitcted feelings
Not getting too attached to a plastic Swatch is business as usual. While they can last decades, they’re not really expected to. The issue with my Fifty Fathoms Swatch is that the looks are so powerful I want more out of it. I want it to be a bit more robust, a bit more eternal. Staring at it on a hot summer night, it reminds me of vacation friends, or flings, from my younger years. What seems eternally perfect sitting on the beach or by a campfire will vanish sooner than you realize, and, in most cases, be gone forever.
The obvious answer here, and certainly the one the folks at Blancpain are hoping for, is: “Well, if you love it so much and want it forever, get a real Fifty Fathoms.” Whether or not I think a Fifty Fathoms is a good buy in today’s watch world is a different debate, for a different day. What I will say though is that there is no variant of the Fifty Fathoms with a design I love as much as the Swatch collab I own. And you know what? Maybe knowing it’s perishable is the actual beauty here. After all, aren’t we all? The eternity we project into watches is surely a frustration emanating from our own mortality. By loving a watch that seems more disposable than I am, and accepting it for what it is, maybe I’m getting a bit closer to accepting my own fate. Still, wouldn’t it be nice if they could service movement?
