Wednesday 26 March 2014

Blancpain Watches From bitter days to riches



It is said that one’s caliber is best judged in adversity. This holds true for Blancpain watches. Blancpain had been through their most difficult phase during the 1970s when the quartz watches came into prominence on the world’s watch market. This was the period when mechanical watches received a tremendous jolt. In order to compete with the economical quartz watches, the Company even reduced their prices on their products.


As it was impossible to offer the mechanical watches in the cost of quartz watches, the Company did suffer a major loss. This problem was overcome in the initial years of 1980s. Instead of lowering down the prices, Blancpain watches decided to add more features in the mechanical watches to make it more interesting; though it was not meant to put a tough competition against the quartz watches. They simply increased the complex mechanism in the watches, rather than decreasing it.

The first product to give birth to this invention was the Clibre 6395. It was manufactured in 1983 with complete calendar and moon-phase complication. The unique addition of the separate display of the days of the week and the month, a committed date-hand, the window for days on the outer edge of the dial, and a moon-phase window made it a historical timepiece.