Swatch x Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms: Everything You Need to Know

The much anticipated follow up to the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch is finally here. If you’re new to the watch world then a brief explanation: Swatch has been collaborating with some of the legendary brands owned by the Swatch Group to produce colourful, accessible versions of those brands’ signature watches. The first such watch, the MoonSwatch, proved incredibly popular and people queued through the night to procure one from the select stores they were available from, since they’re not available online. Now we have a new collaboration that people will go crazy for, the Swatch x Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms.

When I say that there has been anticipation for the new launch, it would perhaps be more correct to say trepidation. While the initial MoonSwatch was received incredibly well, Swatch consistently released new versions each month and with each release more and more people lost interest. As such, a lot of people were wondering whether the teased Blancpain collab would be a return to form or a continuation of the downward trend.

I’m happy to report that the Swatch x Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms is cool. There are five distinct colourways and in the same way that the original MoonSwatches were each dedicated to a planet in the solar system, each of the Scuba Fifty Fathoms (I still think it should be called the Swatchy Fathoms) is dedicated to one of the five oceans found on Earth. Before we delve into those individual models, let’s talk specs since all five watches are the same.

The watch has a 42.3mm diameter case in the signature Fifty Fathoms style with a faithful recreation of the Blancpain rotating bezel and crown. The crown and dial are dual signed by the collaborating brands. The piece genuinely looks like a colourful rendition of the Fifty Fathoms, which is itself one of the most famous and coolest dive watches ever produced. As for the Scuba Fifty Fathom’s functionality as a dive watch, it has a water resistance rating of fifty fathoms, which equates to 91m or 300ft.

Perhaps the biggest and most important development between this watch and the MoonSwatch is that the Scuba Fifty Fathoms houses a mechanical movement instead of quartz. It’s Swatch’s mass produced Sistem 51, which has a fully automated production system meaning it never sees a pair of human hands. It’s certainly not as prestigious or high quality as even a baseline Swiss movement like a Sellita but on paper it has reasonable specs such as its Nivachron hairspring with magnetic field resistance and 90-hour power reserve.

Arctic Ocean

The first of the colourways is dedicated to the Arctic Ocean, the cold ocean at the top of the world. This particular reference is inspired by the Blancpain Fifty Fathom No Rad, featuring a crossed through radiation symbol at 6 o’clock indicating that the lume does not contain radioactive material, as lume once did. The colours here are a sandy beige with orange accents and bezel.

Flipping it shows an exhibition caseback where you can see that the movement has been decorated with a depiction of the Arctic Ocean and the rotor bears an image of a nudibranch, an exotic marine animal that exists in all five oceans – each watch bears an image of a type of nudibranch native to their waters.

Pacific Ocean

Next is the Pacific Ocean edition with its yellow-orange bioceramic case, black bezel and grey fumé gradient dial. It has slightly different hour markers to the Arctic Ocean above as it features triangles rather than circles. There are also Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. Again we have the open caseback with ocean and nudibranch decoration.

Atlantic Ocean

For the Atlantic Ocean Swatch x Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms, they’ve gone for a full blue aesthetic. A light blue case, a dark blue bezel and a gradient dial that transitions between the two shades. It also features a blue NATO strap that like all five watches here is made from upcycled fishing nets.

Looking at the caseback it once again has the ocean and animal decorations but actually, if we zoom out and look at the bioceramic ring around the edge of the exhibition window, we find a series of positive affirmations: PASSION FOR DIVING – LICENCE TO EXPLORE – OCEAN BREATH – PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE and IMMERSE YOURSELF. This too is a feature of all five watches.

Indian Ocean

You can really feel the warmer climate of Indian Ocean in the Indian Ocean edition, which is a combination of green, black and orange. The green-orange combo of the dial and seconds hand is actually reminiscent of the Indian flag, which is a nice touch. This one has the most bizarre looking nudibranch, although to be fair, all of them are pretty strange.

Antarctic Ocean

Last but by no means least, we have the Antarctic Ocean Scuba Fifty Fathoms, an icy white and grey edition. This one flips back to the circle hour markers like the Arctic edition because it too has an additional symbol at 6 o’clock. Or more specifically it’s actually a function because it’s a moisture detector that shows if the watch has been compromised. This is a feature that Blancpain introduced on some of their Mil-Spec Fifty Fathoms because where watches are issued to people rather than owned by individuals, you want to check that the previous user hasn’t damaged the watch.

There you have it, the five new Swatch x Blancpain Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms. My personal favourite is the Arctic because I adore the No Rad model and I’m a sucker for the colour orange. If you want to pick one up, then there are a couple of things you’ll need to know. First, the price, all five editions are £340. That’s a fair bit more than the MoonSwatch but also these are automatic so that price increase is easily explained. They also won’t break the bank which is kind of the point, being accessible reinterpretations of classic watches.

Secondly, the watches are only available from specific Swatch stores globally and will not be available to purchase online. (At least until scalpers put them up for sale on pre-owned sites for exorbitant prices.) In the UK, the stores selling them are: London Covent Garden, London Oxford Street, London Battersea Power Station, Manchester Trafford Centre Pop-up, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In all cases they are operating a one watch per customer per day rule in expectation of high demand. They’re not limited editions but stock is likely to sell out quickly. Lastly, the watches go on sale on September 9^th, that’s this coming Saturday.