Villeret, Blancpain’s native village, is the inspiration for this manufacture's most classic collection. One of the latest creations from Blancpain is the new Villeret 8-Day Week Indication timepiece which is a wristwatch that provides the wearer with a date, day of the week and week indication in a simple and intuitive way. With a timeless and classic design, this is for sure what we would consider to be a dress watch that could be perfectly paired with a Brioni suit. While this watch is definitely not your average or run-of-the-mill timepiece, for most, buying a watch with week indication is simply not relevant as we consider this complication totally useless and practical only for bankers or anyone in an industry where caring about the week of the year is crucial.
The Case & Dial
The Blacpain Villeret 8-Day Week Indication is equipped with an elegant 18K red gold 42 mm case with the usual double stepped construction that the Villeret collection is well known for. Additionally, the watch is equipped with Blancpain’s patented under-the-lug correctors that are entirely out of view when the watch is worn, thereby accentuating the manufacture’s goal of achieving the purest and most aesthetically pleasing possible case design.
Fitted with an elegant 'grand feu' enamel dial with engraved Roman numerals and leaf-shaped hands, the watch features a very clean and easy to read layout where the twin-aperture date display takes the center stage at 6 o'clock. Along with a week of the year indication showing the week number around the rim of its dial with a traditional blued serpentine hand, the day of the week is also displayed with a blued hand on a subdial at 9 o’clock. The blued hands, provide perfect contrast against the white dial.
The serpentine hand embodies a return to the sources of watchmaking tradition as this shape has been used by watchmakers since the 18th century to indicate secondary information given by the watch.
Without a doubt, a stunning wristwatch that is not for everyone but that could have a special place in a bankers watch collection.
The Movement
The Blancpain Villeret 8-Day Week Indication is powered by automatic in-house calibre 3738G2. This 378-part movement is equipped with three mainspring barrels to ensure an 8-day power reserve and with a titanium variable-inertia balance wheel with gold micrometric regulation screws and a balance spring in silicon. This material recently introduced within the watch industry, makes the balance wheel lighter and thus more shock-resistant as well as impervious to magnetic fields. The movement is of course fully visible via the display sapphire case back and its solid gold winding rotor with its honeycomb guilloché pattern is a real treat for the eyes.
The Strap
This new creation combining innovation and watchmaking tradition is offered with a hand-stitched chocolate-colored alligator strap with a double-folding clasp that includes a pin buckle to ease the adjustment of the strap depending on your wrist size. One downside of the strap is that is very stiff and might require a long break-in period before it becomes supple and nicely molded to the wearer's wrist.
On the Wrist & Pricing
The new Blacpain Villeret 8-Day Week Indication wears true to its 42 mm size and extremely comfortably. This is for sure a watch that has an amazing wrist presence thanks to its 'Grand Feu' enamel dial and is for sure a timepiece that will make a statement wherever you go. Now, as far as the price goes, while it is in line with the price for a gold watch and a complication of this caliber, we feel that you are paying a lot of money for a complication that is really just 'a nice to have'. Alternatively, you could look into Blancpain's Villeret Chronographe Monopoussoir ref. 6685-1127-55B we featured here, that comes with a complete calendar andthat gives much more watch for the money even for a stainless steel watch.
Sticker Price $36,200 USD. For more info on Blancpain click here.
