Messages: 1881 Location: Singapore
Registered: August 2004
Possibly the first gen Blancpain Fifty Fathoms with very rare small ROTOMATIC dial
Sat, 26 January 2013 02:29
Hi folks,
Been so long since I done a restoration project (or a watch review post). My principles behind any restoration are clear, only minimal cleaning, without any alteration to the original stuff as much as possible; sympathetic restoration they call it.
Its only possible with the help and support from many collector friends round the world, I was able to finally secure my dream grail piece... the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms (Likely one of the earliest BP seen, with one of the lowest found serial number of 112X) with a nice 3-6-9-12 dial. Those 3-6-9 Rolex Subs were alittle beyond my reach now, and that is one of the reason why I chose to have this config on this BP purchase. Also, not to mentioned, the 3-6-9-12 was the earliest known BP dial for the Fifty Fathoms.
Fast forward, negotiated with a reputatable seller for long time, and got this....
It was beautiful... Almost unmolested, and the 60 year old bakelite bezel show zero sign of any cracking... totally amazing condition. Just like any of my new acquistion, in order to have a closer look, I tend to open up all my watches to have a check at everything, to know what I bought...
Everything looks great... only that the dial has some moisture damage (typical of old diver watches) and here is the dial:
After close inspection, very close scrutiny (maybe one of these days I will get a high-powered microsope), I am happy to see that the dial is 100% original, and the luminious on dial is 100% radium. (Radium on older dial has a certain texture and characteristic that is unique, and different from tritium or other materials) I am also happy to see that the dotty marks on the dial are superficial and decided that these can be certainly cleaned off, very very carefully, and slowly, and safely.
And this is the result:
Next, this is going to be an uphill task and I really want to solve this mystery... did anyone noticed the small ROTOMATIC font?
I have been asking esteemed collectors on this but I was unable to see another picture of the same variant but different watch. I am convinced that this is certainly original as I know that this watch was initially bought off from the owner's son. And from the characteristic of these....
is certainly good. The close up on the small ROTOMATIC font shows a serif style... really very interesting.
I have also heard from some esteemed BP collectors that they have seen this before, but they are not able to find pictures of them at the moment.
I know Claude from Europe has recently discovered another variant, with an aligned ROTOMATIC and INCABLOC font dial. Other than that, the 2 watches looks very similar:
1) Both have very early small fonts bezel insert
2) Both have the triangle end tip on the minute hand
3) Both have gilt dial for the BLANCPAIN FIFTY FATHOMS font
4) Both have minute numerals marking on the chapter ring with radium triangle marking on 3, 6, 9 & 12 hours
Here is his wonderful write up on the watch and if you google for "My vintage BP collection. Part 1: Fifty Fathoms" you should see his article. Sorry, I was not able to provide the URL for his site here.
Also, I have seen this dial variant on old posters....
Other than the bezel style, everything is the same (except age), uncanny!
This is tough as the picture is small, but if you look hard enough you will see the small stack (smaller fonts top and bigger bottom):
Not only here to share my joy here with this new grail acquisition, I would like to have comments on this and if you have seen another watch on this, I would love to have it and for the benefit of sharing here.
If for any reason, you are unable to share it on the forums openly, please feel free to PM me on any information at all.
Thank you and I hope you have enjoy reading so far...
- reficul_x