"Let’s face it: The ultimate legitimation for the modern Fifty Fathoms would be its certification for any military, explorative or other physically demanding operation. 

I am sure that such a certification would drive the watch world crazy. But I am also certain that this will not happen. Not because the Fifty Fathoms would not stand such a test (I assume it would), but it would be much too expensive.

So what I would like to see is a 'budget' Fifty Fathoms with a less elaborate bezel, a more basic case and less expensive finishing but built to withstand the elements as the current one - this does not really fit into Blancpain's haute horlogerie philosophie, doesn't it?

WAIT – there was once a watch called 'Bathyscaphe'...? We almost pray in unison: Hope, is there hope?"  [stated here]

We got what we (and may others) wanted, simplified, smaller and more affordable, but the reactions were quite mixed, including our own personal feelings. I'll get to that later in the conclusions, as I think that's an interesting experience.

So I was very surprised (and very excited as well) and one day in late summer I got a phone call from Swatch Group Germany asking me whether I wanted to have a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe for a couple of days for a photo-shoot!

Of course I accepted and a few days later a parcel arrived - not with one, but with all three versions:

What follows are image-heavy posts (thanks to the fact that I could use the atelier of Jakob Kirchmayr in Vienna as shooting location and source of inspiration), but I hope going through them is worth your time and bandwidth!