Blancpain

jkingston
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The Christmas Present Unveiled

I have held off long enough. Time to unveil the latest addition to the collection.

Been waiting for months for it to be ready. This is the new Blancpain Villeret Phase de Lune 8 Jours. Long name, but it does describe the watch. Moon phase, complete calendar, 8 day power reserve.



There are a lot of goodies in this watch. First a full fired, classic enamel dial. Blued serpentine date hand (traditionally serpentine hands were used for indications other than the time so that there would be no confusion reading the watch).



The totally in-house movement has three mainspring barrels, titanium free sprung balance with gold regulation screws and guilloche decoration of the winding rotor (note the photo is of a prototype that I took many months ago; production finishing is even better).

But there is more. If you look carefully at the backside of the watch you can see the calender correctors nestled under the lugs. This means there are no dimples on the side of the case for setting the calendar and you need no tool or toothpick to set the indications. Just use your finger tip. No other brand has this and no other brand can have it as there is a Blancpain patent.

And the calendar mechanism is also unique. There are no prohibited times for setting. Other complete calendar moon phases allow setting of the indications only during certain hours of the day--violate the rules and you will break the movement. Not this one. You can adjust anything at any time totally free of risk of damage.

Jeff