Lot 195

Blancpain

Platinum Masterpiece Collection

An extremely rare, limited-edition set of six ultra-thin neo-vintage platinum wristwatches of great importance to Haute Horlogerie, in a decorative exotic wood presentation box with a chequerboard pattern. The set includes the six highly complicated watches launched by Blancpain in the 1980s: "Ultra-Plate", "Tourbillon", "Répétition Minutes", "Phases de Lune", "Chronographe Rattrapante" and "Quantième Perpétuel". In 1991, the retail price was CHF 385,000

Sold

In the 1980s, Blancpain dedicated themselves to the simple, traditional and above all complicated art of watchmaking. This produced six ultra-thin mechanical watches with various sophisticated complications, presented as a set in an iconic chessboard case. Each of the watches features a plaque with the model’s name.
1. "Ultra-Plate", reference 0021, cal. 21: Developed from around 1911 to 1925, the resulting ultra-thin hand-wound calibre 21 is only 5.6mm thick.
2. "Tourbillon", reference 0023, cal. 23: When this reference appeared on the market, it was the flattest hand-wound tourbillon with 8-day power reserve worldwide – at a height of only 7.5 mm.
3. "Répétition Minutes" reference 0033, cal. 33: When Blancpain launched the "Répétition Minutes" in 1988, the brand had succeeded in creating one of the smallest and most complex minute repeater movements ever to be housed in such an ultra-thin case of just 8 mm. Even from this small case, the sound is surprisingly loud, clear and pleasant. The minute repeater represents the ultimate challenge in the traditional art of watchmaking.
4. "Phases de Lune", reference 6595: With this watch featuring a classic design, Blancpain revived the traditional complication of the full calendar with the phases of the moon.
5. "Chronographe Rattrapante", reference 1186, cal. 1186: This model was the world's first automatic split-seconds chronograph movement. The movement has a vertical clutch column wheel that enables constant operation without using up the power reserve.
6. "Quantième Perpétuel", reference 5495: Day of the week, month in combination with leap year and date are displayed by three sunk subsidiary dials, and supported by the typical moon age and phase display of a golden moon and stars against a dark blue night sky.
Blancpain's achievements during this decade are impressive. The brand created the first wristwatch with a flying tourbillon, the first automatic chronograph with a split-second hand and the thinnest automatic chronograph, thus making a significant contribution to the revival of traditional mechanical watchmaking.