Blancpain Swatch Collection Drops Tomorrow, Resells for $1,000+

News

By RC Staff

08 September 2023

If watches are your thing, we’ve got something you might want to see. Tomorrow, September 9, Swatch is dropping a new collection of five watches. The collaborative project is a remixed version of Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms wristwatch. While Swatch is labeling the collection as “non-limited”, it’s only going to be available in certain stores at certain times. We’re expecting quite a spectacle tomorrow at Swatch outlets in NYC, but going after one may be worth it. Even before the watches have sold at retail, they’re being listed for incredible markups by resellers online.

Swatch X Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Scuba Collection

There’s a lot of overlap between seagoers and watch collectors. Rolex’s iconic Submariner design was borne out of a need for divers to have a highly waterproof watch, and many other manufacturers have implemented some sort of diver’s watch at some point.

For Blancpain, that’s the Fifty Fathoms. The design’s durability underwater made it the standard issue of US Navy divers and Seals through the 50s, and it’s endured as a popular and highly collectible design through the decades.

We’re getting a remixed version of the Fifty Fathoms watch tomorrow, as part of a collaboration between Blancpain and its parent company Swatch. Five designs are included in the drop, based on various oceans of the world. They include the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and also an Arctic and Antarctic design (more on those two later)

Probably the most notable aspect of this collection are the mechanisms behind the watches. Swatch is primarily known as a quartz manufacturer, but they do have a few mechanical movements implemented in their designs.

All of the watches in the Blancpain collab are powered by Swatch’s “Sistem51” movement, an automatic-winding mechanical system that’s constructed entirely by robots in a sterile environment, then sealed into the case. This system means that the watches (theoretically) never need to be serviced or maintained in any way, but are still functionally identical to other mechanical movements.

And what’s the point of a mechanical watch if you can’t gawk at the internal gears and mechanisms keeping things ticking? The watches in tomorrow’s drop all include transparent case backs to show off the 51 parts that make up the mechanism.

The case backs are also decorated differently between the designs. A major inspiration behind the collection was the nudibranch, or sea slug. Each design features a different nudibranch engraved on the case back’s glass.

Blancpain Swatch Arctic and Subarctic Watches

While all of the watches in this collection are cool, these two designs have some slight variations that are worth paying attention to.

The Arctic Scuba watch has a unique case design. A red trefoil is depicted over a yellow circle, and crossed out. The words “NO RADIATIONS” are printed under the logo. This an allusion to the original Fifty Fathoms designs, which were produced with no radioactive material (a rising concern in the 50s)

Then we have the Antarctic design. This also features a unique case, which is also functional. The watch’s face includes a water-detecting device. This was an important feature for historic dive watches, and is a clever nod to the design’s origins.

Blancpain Swatch Scuba Prices and Availability

All of the watches from the Swatch X Blancpain Fifty Fathoms collaboration cost $400. That’s a little pricey for a Swatch, but quite a good price for a Fifty Fathoms design.

That said, the price really isn’t the issue here – it’s getting one. Swatch is claiming that this collection is “non-limited”, meaning that production isn’t being held to an arbitrary number. But, these watches are only being sold at certain Swatch locations. As of this writing, only 9 stores have been listed, all of them within the U.S.

Participating locations are in:

• New York City, NY (two stores)
• Honolulu, HI
• Las Vegas, NV
• Dallas, TX
• San Francisco, CA
• Houston, TX
• Miami, FL
• Orlando, FL

Here’s a list of addresses if you’re thinking about heading to a Swatch store tomorrow. Most of them open around 10 or 11 A.M. Because of this limited non-limited release, we’re expecting that lines will be starting quite early in the morning, and be very, very long.

Even if you’re not interested in one of these watches for personal use, or if there’s no participating store in your city, you still might want to consider making the trip. These watches have been received extremely positively within collectors’ circles, and we’re already seeing an aftermarket emerge for them.

A number of resellers have made listings for the Swatch X Blancpain watches through eBay, and several of them have actually sold for upwards of $1,000. Nothing wrong with being confident, right?

And there are plenty more unsold listings up as well. Special edition watches like these can be quite lucrative for resellers, and Swatch has been on a hot streak lately. We covered the limited release “Mission to Moonshine” watches dropped earlier this year, and those would go onto to resell for several time what they sold for from Swatch.

Tomorrow’s release is looking to be just as profitable. If you’ve got nothing else to do and don’t mind standing in line for a few hours before dawn, why not make a trip to the nearest store?

Subscribe to our newsletter for more updates like these. Flips like these come up all the time, but you’ll only be able to take advantage of them if you’re tipped off in advance. Good luck and happy hunting!