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Blancpain

Customising my Air Command

 

I have my Air Command for about 18 years now. It is my daily beater and it is rocked. I love it, but in comparison to my vintage Fifty it is to far from the original. So I decided to customise it.



Firdt step some years ago was to coat the luenette black.


Second step some years later was to get it closer to the original with a Bakeliteluenette



Some testing with different inlays







Finally I ask a friend Stefan Obst from VDB watches in Germany a famous craftsman to build my inlay. Here some working steps.....



















I love the new old design . First time I got the new old luenette, it brought a three day constant smile in my face. What do you think about it? It is a little bit like tuning a Porsche. Best regards Stephan









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21 Comments view entire thread 

I like the quality of the work done on the bezel...

 
By: shortys home : June 4th, 2017-09:37
... although I personally prefer the original bezel on the Trilogy Air Command. What I like most that your Blancpain sees so much wristtime, well aged ;-) Cheers Henrik

Interesting tutorial and great work

 
By: Alkiro1 : June 4th, 2017-09:46
By the way, what's this little snake on the last shot? Best wishes Alkiro

Thanks mates for kind words

 
By: fifty fathoms : June 4th, 2017-10:32
I have a second original bezel to change, so I have the choice to change to original status. The snake is a brass plastic of a cerastes cerastes adder. Best regards Stephan

Great job on insert.

 
By: Briandumais : June 5th, 2017-20:54
The insert appears to be convex on the top side. He wonder if he had a cad program to engrave the numbers and dashes? Thanks for posting.

Hi Brian

 
By: fifty fathoms : June 5th, 2017-22:03
Yes top side is a little bit curved. The Numbers are similar to the original vintage FFs. I do not know if he uses a CAD program to engrave the numbers. There is still a lot of handwork. Stephan

What bezel inserts can be bought second hand?

 
By: Mm2192 : October 28th, 2021-01:46
What bezel inserts do you have that are able to fit inside the stock bezel? It looks like the one is potentially a Rolex? I'd love to try changing the bezel insert on my GMT

Please ask

 
By: fifty fathoms : October 28th, 2021-06:10
at the Rolex site. Mine is a Blancpain. Rolex Inlays, the old ones, are easiely to change

Aftermarket bezel insert

 
By: WatchBear : October 2nd, 2023-14:29
Seriously, your watch looks fantastic. Cannot believe I was missing this beauty until now. Totally, undervalued in the market. About the bezel insert, those bezel inserts developed for Rolex fit this model? Thank you.

Dear watchbear

 
By: fifty fathoms : October 2nd, 2023-16:26
I think that the Rolex bezel inserts do not fit the Blancpain. If you are interested, where to get probably an aftermarket replacement, send me a pm. Best regards Stephan

air command

 
By: MSB : April 3rd, 2022-12:25
I had this piece and also was not very fond of the metal raised number dial.I like the enamel bezel. The raised metal dial was very controversial and was never used again. I had one of the few aftermarket display backs made ( at the time) for the watch, w...  

It came out looking great!

 
By: AlexSunrise : April 4th, 2022-16:25
Funny enough, I was looking at Concept 2000´s lately and wondering about customization possibilities, you took it to the extreme and made it rock! Congrats! Alex

quite the change

 
By: MSB : October 16th, 2023-02:45
Much better design than the original bezel which was way too heavy for the dial. I had this custom detail on my Air command .... ...