Founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switzerland, Blancpain is the oldest watch manufacturer in the world. A renowned name in luxury watches, Blancpain offers a mix of classic dress watches, high complications, and capable dive watches — a category it invented.
Blancpain watches are considered among the most prestigious luxury Swiss watches in the world. Blancpain has a long history dating back to 1735 and is the oldest surviving watch brand in the world. It's been a family-owned company for almost 200 years that produces and sells sophisticated, high-quality, and luxury watches. These watches are the watches of choice for many watch collectors. Discover our selection of Blancpain watches and get the one that suits your style and lifestyle.
Some of the earliest innovations in Blancpain’s history included important upgrades to the watch escapement design and ultra-thin movement construction. The Blancpain workshops were passed down from generation to generation during the first two centuries of the brand’s existence. In the 1980s, watch industry veteran Jean-Claude Biver purchased and revived the Blancpain name to remind us of mechanical watches' beauty and importance, right amid the quartz crisis. Blancpain was later purchased by the Swatch Group where it remains today.
However, one of the most important milestones in the Blancpain’s story is the launch of the Fifty Fathoms diving watch in 1953. Designed for professional divers, the Fifty Fathoms featured a rotating timing bezel, exceptional water resistance, and luminous markers, making it a go-to tool for skin and SCUBA divers of the era. The name Fifty Fathoms is taken from the watch’s water depth rating, which was 50 fathoms or about 91 meters. Today, this iconic dive watch collection remains a top choice for those looking to buy Blancpain watches. The Bathyscaphe models also belong to the Fifty Fathoms collection but their designs are more luxurious and land-ready than the original diving tool versions and often boast complications and or precious metals.
Another important Blancpain watch collection is the Villeret, which debuted in 2010 and was named after the brand’s founding city. Characterized by classic styling and intricate movements, Villeret watches are Blancpain’s selection of dress timepieces fitted with round cases, traditional dial designs, and often, intricate complications.
In addition to these models, other popular Blancpain watches for sale include the Air Command pilot watch collection, the Ladybird ladies’ watch collection, and the exquisite Métiers d'Art line, which highlights traditional crafts such as engraving, enameling, gem-setting, and more.
One of Blancpain’s most famous slogans is “Since 1735 there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch. And there never will be.” This highlights the company’s commitment to mechanical timepieces and the type of craftsmanship, skill, and know-how that it takes to build them.
One area that Blancpain focuses on is complications, particularly grand complications whereby each watch is fully assembled and adjusted by hand by a single master watchmaker. This takes place in the Grand Complications workshop of Blancpain’s Le Brassus Manufacture. The company’s perpetual calendars, GMTs, alarms, flyblack chronographs, and other complications are some of the best Blancpain watches for sale.
Another important pillar of Blancpain is artistry and traditional crafts all done at its in-house decorating and engraving workshops. For clients who want to buy Blancpain watches that no one else has, the company even offers bespoke designs via its Métiers d'Art workshops.