With a tradition of creating excellent diver's watches with the 50 Fathoms series, Blancpain does not disappoint with their latest offerings in this series. As the creators of the archetypical diver’s watch (including the uni-drectional bezel), Blancpain can be expected to preserve their standing in this area. This particular watch is styled after the original 50 Fathoms watch from 1953 and is available in steel and red gold. Both are water resistant to 300 metres, which is remarkable considering our earlier points about precious materials and the diver’s watch. Going one step further, the bezel is actually in scratch-resistant sapphire and the manufacture revisits and improves such details as the luminescence, the crown guards and the pin buckle on the strap. In or out of the water, this is straight-up luxury.

The watch made famous by James Bond gets an unusual treatment in this model, a colorful tribute to freedivers. Though rightly famed for their Planet Ocean version (with Co-Axial movement and water resistant to 600 metres) of the Seamaster, this model distinguishes itself by its so-called 14-minute apnea display. When the start-stop pusher is activated, the seven apertures on the dial will begin filling with red, one-by-one, one-per-minute, from left to right. Once all the apertures have turned red, they will then change color, again one-by-one, allowing a countdown of 14 minutes. The case is in steel and is water resistant to 300 metres while the bezel is of course uni-directional. The diameter is 41.5mm.