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.
