{"id":26063,"date":"2021-03-22T08:04:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T08:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horbiter.com\/the-classy-blancpain-villeret-quantieme-annuel-gmt\/"},"modified":"2021-11-26T15:04:08","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T15:04:08","slug":"blancpain-villeret-quantieme-annuel-gmt-hands-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horbiter.com\/en\/blancpain-villeret-quantieme-annuel-gmt-hands-on\/","title":{"rendered":"The classy Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Annuel GMT watch hands-on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Am I right in saying that a Villeret<\/strong> is one of the most underrated items among classic timepieces? Maybe it is, it is actually quite a strong claim to make and it is not even based on figures, my personal professional experience, however, has taught to me that every claim needs to be supported by evidence and by rational economic figures rather than by simple data. Let\u2019s say that, if I were to collect the opinion of five people with a basic knowledge of real watches and asked them what would they go for if they were to purchase a classic timepiece, I am pretty sure that I would get lots of different answers but none of those would involve a Villeret<\/strong>, simply because most people do not know this particular watch at all, in my humble opinion.<\/p>\n

\"Blancpain<\/p>\n

Try not to open any newspapers, try not to look at watch commercials featuring famous sportsmen or models and try to avoid Instagram profiles with fake followers; here is where you start to understand which horological\u00a0world\u00a0a Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Annuel GMT <\/strong>actually belongs. After reflecting on the images that I took personally of Blancpain<\/strong> watches along with examining the pictures taken by my photographer this year, I am of the opinion that a sports watch like the Bathyscaphe<\/strong> was perhaps the best timepiece to start from this year and I started, infact, with a Bathyscaphe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the Bathyscaphe<\/strong>, you can easily say that, when compared to all the other models released by other brands, it is one of the most \u201cunderstated<\/em>\u201d sporty timepieces ever launched but it is also the very first watch that comes to mind when you are looking for something to wear on a daily basis. If you start taking a good look at classic timepieces with complications, instead, items that have been superbly design in every little aesthetic and mechanic detail, you must most definitely take a Villeret<\/strong> into consideration.<\/p>\n

\"BlancpainFor the very first time, the Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Annuel<\/strong> GMT<\/strong>\u00a0is available with a stainless steel case, a particular choice that makes this complicated \u00a0watch from the Villeret<\/strong> collection (slightly) more accessible and less serious. On top of things, this year it is as if all brands had secretly agreed on making stainless steel a luxurious metal.<\/p>\n

\"BlancpainBefore starting to talk about this timepiece\u2019s characteristics, I would recommend you to get your hands on the Blancpain<\/strong>\u2018s\u00a0catalogue; it is among the most interesting and almost as big as a book and the manufacturer usually distributes it around from its stand in Basel<\/strong>. That special \u201cbook<\/em>\u201d explains two basic concepts; Blancpain<\/strong>\u2019s leadership in crafting some of the most compact complicated movements on the market and the brand\u2019s trademark to use useful patents rather than trivial ones. I am talking in particular about the annual calendar\u2019s correctors, unlike on other timepieces, these are not \u00a0located on the case middle and they are not round-shaped either but they are actually small slides hidden underneath the lugs.<\/p>\n

\"BlancpainAt one o\u2019clock lies the corrector that can be used to set\u00a0the day, the corrector located at 5 o\u2019clock, on the other hand, allows the user to set the month. This particular type of operation, when the watch is used on a regular basis, needs to be performed once a year and only when the month changes from February<\/strong> to March<\/strong>. It is the very only correction that you need to perform on a caliber that doesn\u2019t feature a perpetual calendar complication and that could, therefore, run smoothly until 2100<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

All the other functions, GMT<\/strong>, date and hour are managed through the crown; there are not too many manufacturers around that are able to create calibers whose complications can be managed solely through the crown. The small 24-hour-counter is entirely devoted to the reference hour while the central hands are devoted to the setting of the time-zone where you find yourself while you are wearing your Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Annuel GMT<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"BlancpainBlancpain<\/strong> are very careful and their designers are extremely light-handed when it comes to sketch a model of the Villeret<\/strong> collection (possibly with the sole exception of the Chinese calendar.) That was\u00a0the exact case for instance with the Demi-Fuseau Horaire<\/strong> and no matter what the complication is, it always tends to occupy\u00a0the entire surface of the dial and to uniformly spread across the indicators and the three windows of the calendar. The aesthetic logic concept behind the Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Annuel GMT<\/strong> is clearly to make its style as close as possible to the style of an uncluttered three-hand-timepiece and the appearance of this calendar resembles that of Saxon<\/strong> horlogerie\u2019s timepieces but\u00a0the rounded applied Roman numbers that match\u00a0the three-step-bezel.<\/p>\n

\"BlancpainThe dimensions of this timepiece are 40mm<\/strong> by 11mm<\/strong> and, particularly concerning the first one, I would have no reservation at all. The Blancpain Villeret Quantieme Annuel GMT<\/strong>\u00a0retails at 30,000<\/strong> euro, it is a workshop-made complicated and an irreducible classic timepiece that doesn\u2019t fit any trends, not even the current fashion that calls for the come-back of classic manual calibers and that a Villeret<\/strong>, without taking anything away from caliber\u00a06045F<\/strong>, would\u00a0definitely deserve.<\/p>\n