The Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar
enters its second 12-year cycle
Blancpain is delighted to unveil its new Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel to celebrate Chinese New Year 2025, which on 29 January will see the wooden dragon give way to the wooden snake. For the 14th consecutive year, the Manufacture is uniting East and West in a commemorative timepiece themed according to the zodiac sign of the lunar new year, engraved on the watch’s rotor. Produced in a limited edition, this calendar is the first to pair a platinum case with a green Grand Feu enamel dial.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO .jpg)
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO .jpg)
Renowned for its intuition and perspicacity, the snake takes pride of place on the 22K white gold rotor of this Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel 2025 with its frosted finish. Brought to life in Blancpain’s Métiers d'Art workshop, the reptile has been delicately drawn by in-house artisans. This zodiac sign is accompanied by natural ruby and an engraving in Chinese characters indicating the words ‘serpent’ and ‘wood’.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
This calendar is enlivened by a set of four hands, accompanied by two apertures. These display the five elements combined with Yin and Yang – linked to the sexagesimal cycle – at 3 o'clock; the Chinese days and months at 9 o'clock; as well as double Chinese hours at 12 o'clock. The apertures provide information on the Chinese leap month at 9 o'clock and the zodiac sign of the current lunar year at 12 o'clock. In addition to this multitude of calendar data, a serpentine hand points to the Gregorian date, while the emblematic Blancpain moon phase appears at 6 o'clock.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO .jpg)
Despite its complexity, the Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel 2025 is very user-friendly thanks to its under-lug correctors. Presented as a world first and patented by Blancpain in 2005, these enable the calendar indications to be adjusted simply at the touch of a finger, without any need for additional tools. Discreetly positioned beneath the lugs, these small correctors free the sides from the ‘dimples’ usually found on calendar watches, without compromising the comfortable feel on the wrist. What's more, if the wearer tries to set the calendar indications when the mechanism is automatically adjusting them – which could otherwise lead to mechanical damage – nothing happens, as the movement is secure. Paired with a chocolate brown alligator leather strap matching the dial colour, this Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel 2025 is issued in a 50-piece limited edition.
Villeret: timeless elegance and an eminently technical nature
Blancpain’s native village lends its name to the Brand's most classic collection. Rooted in tradition yet looking firmly to the future, Villeret models personify the roots of the Manufacture and are distinguished by their restrained, pure lines endowing them with timeless elegance. With its iconic double-stepped case, the Villeret collection incorporates the results of Blancpain's recent research into its movements.
Moon phases: The face of Blancpain
Reintroduced by Blancpain in 1983 in the wake of the quartz crisis, this complication, now a signature of the Manufacture in Le Brassus, enabled the Maison to demonstrate that a mechanical timepiece testified to extraordinary expertise and that quartz could never replace a complex mechanical watchmaking creation.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO .jpg)
It thus came to symbolise the revival of mechanical watchmaking. Blancpain’s immediately recognisable moon phase graces the Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel 2025.
Blancpain: The Master of Calendars
As key components of the Manufacture’s DNA, calendars demonstrate Blancpain’s expertise in complications. The complete calendar made a strong comeback after the quartz crisis and in 1983 heralded a succession of timepieces equipped with calendar indications.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
Whether in the form of a weekly calendar, a simple date display, an annual calendar or a perpetual calendar, the Brand’s ability to create calendars culminated in the extremely complex creation of two world firsts: the Villeret Equation du Temps Marchante and the Villeret Calendrier Chinois Traditionnel. Frequently featured within the Manufacture’s catalogue in the Villeret, Ladybird and Fifty Fathoms collections, calendar mechanisms consolidate Blancpain’s stature as the Master of Calendars.
The silicon revolution
Silicon has revolutionised watchmaking since the beginning of the 21st century and enabled major advances in time measurement. Elastic without deforming, hard, light and highly resistant to corrosion, this material notably stands for its resistance to magnetism, a welcome quality when it comes to ensuring timepiece precision.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
This 2024 Traditional Chinese Calendar 2025 is limited to 50 pieces.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Model: VILLERET Traditional Chinese Calendar "Year of the Water Snake"
Complications
Traditional Chinese Calendar
[double-hour indication, signs of the zodiac, date and month of the Chinese calendar. Indication of the
five elements, the celestial stems and the leap months]
Specificities
- ∙ Gregorian calendar
- ∙ Moon phases
- ∙ Under-lug correctors
- ∙ Secured movement
- ∙ White grand feu enamel dial
- ∙ Oscillating weight set with a Madagascar ruby
- ∙ Sself-winding
Case diameter: 45.20 mm
Water resistance: 3.00 bar
Between horns: 23.00 mm
Sapphire back: Engraved on the - "Chinese Calendar - № ХX/50 Piece"
Dial
Green grand feu enamel dial
Grand feu enamel
Movement
Calibre 3638
Reference: 3638
Self-winding
Calibre thickness: 8.30 mm
Calibre diameter: 32.00 mm | 14'''
Power reserve in hours: 168
Jewels: 39
3 mainspring barrels
Secured movement
Titanium free sprung balance with gold regulation screws
Components: 464
Strap/Bracelet
Alligator lined with alzavel
Brown color strap
Platinum folding clasp
----------------------------------------------
Press release - 2024
----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
Blancpain S.A.
Le Rocher 12
1348 Le Brassus
Suisse
International PR: Lucie Notar
Tel. (+41) 21 796 3619
Fax (+41) 21 796 3637
E-mail: pr@blancpain.com
---------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
www.facebook.com - Blancpain
--------------------------------------------------------------
www.Blancpain.com
No comments:
Post a Comment