All Five Blancpain X Swatch Scuba Fifty Fathoms Are Here. Meet the New MoonSwatch

Splash! That’s the sound of the most anticipated watch launch of the year (can we say any year?) dropping. The follow-up to the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch.

First came last Thursday’s teaser ad, delivered via any self-respecting hypebeast’s normal media channel. That’s right, 73-year-old liberal-conservative German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The full-page picture showed the Swatch logo at the bottom of a swimming pool in the same format as the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch logo – with the Omega branding absent, hinting that a new collaboration from within the Swatch Group portfolio of watch brands was imminent.

The water suggested an obvious front runner. Blancpain – maker of the Fifty Fathoms, commissioned by an elite team of French frogmen in the 1950s and regarded as the first modern dive watch. An entry-level Fifty Fathoms will set you back £13,500. Was a £300 plastic version on its way?

Then on Monday came confirmation via Instagram.

Posted to both brands' accounts, ‘Blancpain x Swatch’ was stamped over an oceanic map with five distinct areas marked up. ‘Arctic Ocean’, ‘Pacific Ocean’, ‘Atlantic Ocean’, ‘Indian Ocean’ and ‘Antarctic Ocean’.

Plus, this Saturday’s date ‘9.9.2023’.

This suggested a simultaneous launch of a set of five multi-coloured watches – a release model that would echo the initial set of 11 collectable MoonSwatches.

The internet began joining the dots.

Five different watches named for five different oceans. The Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean would refer to modern Blancpain models, suggested a source. The ‘more extreme’ oceans – The Arctic Ocean and The Antarctic Ocean would refer to historical Blancpain models.

Possible names were also bandied around. BlancSwatch? PlainSwatch? Then someone remembered the words of Swiss watchmaking legend Jean-Claude Biver, back from when he acquired Blancpain in 1982. “There has never been a quartz Blancpain watch and there never will be.”

Swatches – including the MoonSwatch – are typically quartz (battery) powered.

But in 2013 Swatch debuted a collection called Sistem51 – automatic watches with mechanical movements.

Surely this was too much to resist?

The new collab must be called the Blancpain x Swatch 51Fathoms!

The fact Sistem51 celebrates 10 years this year and Fifty Fathoms celebrates 70 seemed to seal the deal.

It was nearly right.

The Swatch take on the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is known as the Blancpain x Swatch Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection. It comprises five models made from Bioceramic material, powered by a SISTEM51 mechanical movement and water resistant down to 91 meters, 300 feet – or 50 fathoms.

Here they are:

Swatch X Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms - Pacific Ocean

Swatch X Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms - Indian Ocean

Swatch X Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms - Atlantic Ocean

Swatch X Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms – Arctic Ocean

Swatch X Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms - Antarctic Ocean

The Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms – or 'Scuba Fifty' – collection comprises: Arctic Ocean (beige Bioceramic case and crown); Pacific Ocean (yellow-orange Bioceramic case and crown); Atlantic Ocean (blue Bioceramic case and crown); Indian Ocean (green Bioceramic case and crown) and Antarctic Ocean (ice white Bioceramic case and crown).

They look similar but as predicted, have a variety of inspirations. The green Indian Ocean, blue Atlantic Ocean and yellow Pacific Ocean models refer to modern Fifty Fathoms iterations, while the red Arctic Ocean and white Antarctic Ocean are inspired by rarer versions commissioned for the military purposes in the 1960s: the 'No Rad' Fifty Fathoms, indicating the absence of radioactive materials on its markings, and 'Mil-Spec' models made for the US army with a moisture indicator on its dial.

All the watches are 42.3mm in diameter, 14.4mm thick and come presented on a NATO-style strap.

The collection is non-limited – except by insane demand – and became available worldwide via selected Swatch stores on September 9, priced at £340.

All models are currently doing brisk business on StockX.