Afternoon folks,
My wife mentioned this article was going to be in the Sunday Times yesterday and I had planned to buy it but a Mothers Day road trip took up most of the day and so its slipped my mind.
I can see from the Google search that there is an image of the latest Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary model with the orange hands known as the Tech 'Gombassa' with the rest behind the subscription Paywall.
Nice looking watch but I'm not really convinced that a $28,000 47MM orange handed is the best investment in the current market.
Did anyone else buy the ST yesterday and have any other top investment advice?
Cheers
Chris
Very useful to present watches you can’t actually go in and buy. Doubt the editorial staff have a clue…
Decent buys if you like them? Yes.
Investments? No.
Fluff piece.
What's the purpose of the bezel on the Blancpain?
Why would you be interested in watches as investment pieces?
As to their list, the Pelagos 39mm doesn't even sell at RRP (on here), and I wouldn't be choosing the AirKing from the current Rolex line-up.
Check out Google. But here's one for starters.Originally Posted by thenikjones
http://www.scottishwatches.co.uk/202...h-anniversary/
This safety requirement inspired Blancpain to make the first bezel insert to feature three-hour markings. These include a 1:30 and 2:30 luminescent time marks on the black ceramic insert which I am not the biggest fan of. Watches like the Fifty Fathoms 3H Bund were also designed with the closed-circuit system in mind so featured a single lumed mark at 60 minutes since that is all you need to track hours. The bezel was rotated to 1,2,3 hours ahead and once the hour hand started to reach it, you’d know to start ascending. I much prefer that design, but I do recognize that this new format makes tracking elapsed time more accurate and is necessary for the brand-new complication. Notice that fourth hand. It is similar in function to a 24-hour hand but instead of completing a full rotation around the dial every 24 hours, this aids the diver by tracking a 3-hour period corresponding with the bezel. Tracking a dive has never been simpler. It is a simple complication but genuinely blows my mind that no one has done it before. Leave it to the brand that released the first diver to kick things up a notch. Will this become a staple of this type of diver? Probably not because that hand doesn’t have much use on land. I’m not sure many will want an extra hand with a niche purpose.
Last edited by jukeboxs; 20th March 2023 at 15:32.
It has an extra hand like a GMT, but it rotates every 3 hours. For saturation diving I presume.
No not exactly, it is for diving with a CCR (closed circuit rebreather) in comparaison with 'regular' OC (open circuit) where you consume air, Nitrox (28 to 100% O2) or Trimix Gas (mix of N, O2 and He in different percentages depending on the depth and time you dive.
With CCR you tipically dive much longer than 60 minutes, which is the common maximum time (depending on consumption, beginner normally don't make it longer than 30 minutes before hitting reserve) you can dive on a recreational dive (max 40m) on air (21% O2, 78% N).
On CCR tipical dives are 2-3 or even 4 hours, average time when the CO2 scrubber is saturated in your rebreather
I have yet to see a CCR diver use a mechanical watch to monitor that. Both Arms (on top of a head up display) are used for your computer and the backup to monitor the highly complex apparatus.
I'm not in the slightest bit interested in watches as an investment but I am just interested in what the wider media is saying and why.
And more specifically, whilst we are experiencing a clear downturn in pricing, I was curious as to how they assessed what was an investment or as others have said whether its just a "fluff piece".
Last edited by smokey99; 20th March 2023 at 17:47.
As you know, scrubber time is dependent on water temperature, size of scrubber, how hard you are breathing and most importantly, depth. Not a fixed 3 hours, so a solution looking for a problem. I think every rebreather diver out there is going to rely on their Shearwater or temp stick to monitor scrubber life. Still want a normal fifty fathoms though.
Shows they know nothing about the subject. Nice photos though
It's just an opinion piece, nothing more.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I find comments like this so condescending. Why the hell shouldn’t people regard watches as investments… it’s not your money and you’re not in a position to tell other people what to do with theirs?
The holier than thou attitude of many on here really does need challenging, and no - it doesn’t make you a better or more principled person. Such tosh.
I always see these in the same light as investing in a classic bit of clothing (ie black peacoat - or Barbour if you’re on SC :-) meaning they’ll be practical / work with any outfit - not age with trends etc.
however, I also see these a little like “watches to invest in (that happen to come from companies that spend £££ advertising with us).
That aside, the blancpain is nice but the none orange colour bezel is just well a missed opportunity / let’s just change the dial and hands on these cases we can’t shift type of approach …
I find there are a few things that watch forums in general seem conditioned to repeat as though gospel, this being one of them. They must say ‘watches are not investments” to anyone who enquires. There’s probably a thread to be made in thinking of some of the others. I think the logic behind it can be more open to debate than is often permitted to develop in the thread.
That said, this article is certainly wide of the mark.
And I guess when they label these articles as guidance on investment ( and I’ve still not read it) I assume that’s just for the clicks’
What they really mean is here are some watches we think are worth buying and that you might want to ‘invest’ your hard earned money on.
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I think that is probably on the money (no pun intended).
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Investing in a Hublot is probably similar to investing money in a bonfire.
Or booking a week at Center Parcs.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
+1
….yes absolutely, I was just generalising for the non diver audience. And I want a Fifty Fathoms too 😊
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