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Blancpain Women blends tradition with the aesthetic demands of contemporary femininity

THE FAIRER SEX played an important role for Blancpain at the show this year, as the Swiss watchmaker launched its first collection for women.

Established in 1930, Blancpain has always believed women are able to appreciate the know-how and magic of mechanical horology, even though the majority of its watches have been aimed at men.

The 2006 collection has been conceived, devised and developed in a resolutely feminine spirit. It comprises timepieces that are dedicated to beauty, subtlety and grace. This new collection, Blancpain Women, focuses more than ever before on finesse and elegance.

Blancpain numbers among its achievements the first ladies' self-winding wristwatch, the smallest round movement and, more recently, the world's thinnest perpetual calendar watch. For the past few years, it has also made its mark on lovers' calendars by designing exclusive, limited edition Valentine's Day timepieces.

Watches are no longer just functional objects, they have also become accessories and items of jewellery.

Mark Hayek,  chief executive of Blancpain, believes that there is a fundamental difference between the way men and women choose a watch.

'A woman looks much more at aesthetics and finish. The design is much more important to her than the movement.

'At Blancpain we  take tradition and craftsmanship very seriously, but at the same time we sometimes like to be daring, a little bit crazy. Despite this, we remain true to our traditions and only make watches with mechanical movements.

'Although we are very product orientated, we want to create something special.

'We are in love with detail and want to retain our great tradition of watchmaking without taking ourselves too seriously.

'It is important to me that we retain our heritage and encourage young watchmakers to develop skills in the many different crafts that are involved in watchmaking.'

Despite its many world firsts in ladies watches, Blancpain has never before dedicated an entire collection to women. It timed the launch of these new models to coincide with the arrival of spring.

Far from being reductions or adaptations of men's watches, the first three models in the new Blancpain Women collection were designed specifically to meet the expectations of contemporary women.

Blancpain has remained faithful to its roots in Le Brassus, in Switzerland's Vallee de Joux - which is known worldwide as a centre of excellence in the production of some of the world's finest watches.

Each of the new Blancpain women's watches is fitted with an automatic mechanical movement that has been meticulously hand-finished and decorated.

The company is convinced that the  watches will be appreciated not only for their design, but for the craftsmanship the company lavishes on the decoration of all  their movements. As a result, each model has a sapphire crystal case-back so that this superb workmanship can be fully appreciated.

In designing the collection, Blancpain looked to nature for inspiration. The perfection and diversity of the floral universe fired the imagination of the designers and provided the themes for this collection.

Several flowers became the expression of a symbolic design within the collection. The first three models launched in this collection are called Lotus, Camelia and Orchidee. Each watch is presented in a  marbled maple wood box which has space to store other items of jewellery.

Blancpain's Lotus design is contemporary and at the same time  feminine. There is a boldness to the combination of the guilloche dial with the use of diamonds and rubber straps. The bold exuberance of the dial is enhanced by the use of large Arabic numerals over a guilloche sunburst pattern on the outer part of the dial. Three versions are available - a black dial with a black rubber strap, a white dial with a matching white rubber strap and a version with a ruby-set bezel and a black dial adorned with a flower motif, which is also embossed on the rubber strap.

For the woman who wants a watch for a more informal and dynamic lifestyle, Blancpain offers three flyback chronographs in the Camelia range. Blancpain confesses that few people really use a chronograph: instead they enjoy the satisfaction of playing with it and being able to start and stop the passing seconds. Perhaps it gives a sense of having the power to control time.

Camelia watches take their cue from traditional Blancpain styling and accents, but these chronographs deliberately shy away from their masculine counterparts by featuring stylised Arabic numerals and elegant hollowed hands. Each case is 34mm in diameter and is water resistant to a depth of 30 metres. The double-stepped bezel that is one of the most distinctive features of Blancpain watches is also repeated, in miniature form, around the chronograph counters at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock.

Each watch has a hand-sewn crocodile leather strap that has been cut at right-angles, so that the principle line of scales flows along the length of the strap.

The ultra-feminine Camelia chronographs are offered in three colour themes, pink dials with a pink strap in a matt finish, powdered matt-black dial and straps, and matt-white dials with white crocodile leather straps.

The Orchidee collection captures the elegance of the orchid and is the most classical of the three new designs.

It has a sleek case with an understated line and is supplied on an elegant satin or python strap. Each is fitted with Blancpain's complete calendar signature movement, which features the day, month and moon phase information near the centre of the dial.

Stylised Roman numerals are set around a square mother-of-pearl dial centre, with the date track around the outside.

The moonphase display is  original, featuring a distinctly feminine face on the moon.

Although the case of the Orchidee is only 34mm in diameter, it offers a power reserve of 100 hours and drives the hours, minutes, seconds, a pointer-style date display, day of the week, month and moon phases.

Blancpain Women is a clear expression of Blancpain's admiration of the multiple facets of modern women, while leading high watchmaking to the place where traditional mechanical watchmaking values and the aesthetic demands of contemporary femininity blend in perfect harmony.



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