Fifty Fathoms Titanium Blue

This Fifty Fathoms is a large modern dive watch, with a blue face, a titanium case and a blue sail-canvas strap. Its 45 mm diameter leaves ample room for luminous hands and a marked timing ring. The job of that ring is simple: give the minute hand a starting point from which elapsed time can be read.

Blancpain's original Fifty Fathoms appeared in 1953. It developed from Jean-Jacques Fiechter's work on a watch for diving and the requirements of French combat swimmers. The modern watch keeps the timing layout but is a much later construction, with an automatic movement and a stated 300-meter water-resistance rating.

The blue carries beyond the face into the bezel. Its luminous scale sits beneath a rounded sapphire cover rather than on an exposed metal insert. In the manufacturer's photograph, that cover produces a bright curved reflection around the ring, separate from the fine radial finish of the dial.

The hands are broad and the hour markers large. A small date window fits between four and five, avoiding the main numerals. Even with its glossy surfaces, the watch still gives much of its face to the readings that defined the diving instrument.

Automatic caliber 1315 supplies a stated five-day reserve. It is visible through the sapphire back. The case is substantial in height as well as width, measuring 15.4 mm thick; titanium changes the metal, not those proportions.

The sail-canvas strap gives the watch another kind of surface. Its woven appearance contrasts with the smooth sapphire and brushed gray case. Blue is the common color, but glass, dial and strap do not present it in the same way.