Twelve years ago, Blancpain surprised the watch world by introducing a watch in their Villeret collection that featured a traditional Chinese calendar. This was a first for a wristwatch that was produced in series. To incorporate the traditional Chinese Calendar, Blancpain’s R&D department had its work cut out but succeeded with flying colors.

Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar

The is a lot of complexity to the traditional Chinese Calendar and there is a lot of information that needs to be conveyed. Blancpain achieves this by working with legible subdials and organizing the dial in a symmetrical way. This results in a clean composition that is pleasing to the eye and not overpowering.

That’s quite the accomplishment, given the fact that there are quite a lot of writing and symbols indicated on the dial of the the Traditional Chinese Calendar.

Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar

Three subdials, four hands, and two windows bring the Chinese Calendar together. Combined, they show the traditional Chinese hours, which are 120 minutes in length, days, months, and leap years, combined with the 12-year cycle of the Zodiac and the 60-year cycle of the elements and Yin/Yan.

The window for the leap years is nearly hidden in the subdial on the left side of the dial. When it is not a leap year, it has the same color as the dial, but when it is a leap year, it will turn red to indicate that there is an extra day in February. 

Putting space to good use

You need space for a watch that displays so much information. With a diameter of 45.2mm, there is no shortage of space. What is remarkable is that Blancpain has even succeeded in making the Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar look elegant. This is in part thanks to the timeless appearance of the Villeret design.

With its double-stepped bezel, it simply oozes a discreet kind of elegance. It gives all the watches in this collection an appearance similar to that of a genuinely wealthy individual, the kind that is so rich that it doesn’t have to show off or impress anybody.

Blancpain also kept the height in check, which measures 15.1mm. This still sounds quite thick, but in combination with the diameter of this watch, it results in a well-proportioned timepiece. This is also another area in which Blancpain makes the most out of the space it has created.

Back of the Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar

The movement consists of six levels on which the 464 parts of the watch reside. That makes it, according to Blancpain, more complex to construct than a perpetual calendar and almost on the line with a minute repeater. The focus of Blancpain has both been on the complications themselves and the performance of the watch overall.

The Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar contains three mainspring barrels, allowing the timepiece to run for seven days straight. It runs at 28,800 VpH/4Hz and is also equipped with a silicon balance spring, a hallmark for a Blancpain movement.

Dragon-engraved gold winding rotor of the Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar

The red gold oscillating weight is engraved with a dragon. On the right, there are two characters engraved, which say in Chinese ‘Wood Dragon,’ referring to the zodiac sign of this year in combination with its element. 

While this is a complex movement, there are no correctors on the side of the case as we commonly see. Instead, they are hidden under the lugs, a solution for which Blancpain holds the patent.

This not only looks much better, but they are also easier to operate. A special mechanism prevents damage when setting changes are accidently made when one or more of the complications are about to jump over, saving the owner from a possibly expensive repair. 

Green is my color

This is the first time that Blancpain has made the Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar with a green dial. What makes it even more unique is that it is grand feu enamel, a material that we rarely see in this color completely covering a dial. To describe the color is challenging, as it shows quite a bit of play of light.

Often, it is like a pine green, but where white oven-fired enamel can look milky when the light hits it at the right angle, there the green gets a fresher and lighter tone when that happens. Blancpain even incorporated a sort of secret signature in the dial, between the four and five o’clock.

The green works stunningly in combination with the red gold case, crown, hands, and hour markers. It gives the whole watch a rich look without being too harsh in contrast or overpowering.

Little details make this Blancpain Villeret very pleasing to the eye, like the leaf-shaped hands hour and minute hands with their little opening in the middle.

The same can be said for the Roman hour markers, which are shaped in a different way than is customarily. It packs the Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar with a character that goes beyond its unique set of complications.

Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar

But I don’t use the Chinese Calendar

Like me, you might not use the Chinese Calendar, and for that matter, you also can’t read Chinese. In a strange way, that makes this Blancpain only more desirable. It is like a gateway to another culture that you might not fully understand but do appreciate.

What I think is clever in the concept of this Blancpain Villeret is that the traditional Chinese Calendar is an added complication. Apart from that, it still features what we in the Western world call regular time, date, and moon phase. 

Combined, it makes this Blancpain highly desirable, also because it offers a combination of complications that very few other brands offer. As if that isn’t exclusive enough, the brand will only make 50 pieces of this watch.

While the previous version, twelve years ago, was already tempting, this one is even more desirable, combining the green enamel dial with the red gold case.

While the green makes it visually a slightly smaller watch on the wrist than its predecessors, it is still a large enough timepiece to draw the attention of fellow watch enthusiasts, with which you are bound to have an interesting conversation about this rather unique Blancpain.

For more information, please visit www.blancpain.com/en/villeret/calendrier-chinois-traditionnel-0888-3632c-55b

Quick Facts Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar
Case: 45.2 x 15.1 mm, red gold, 30M/3ATM water resistant
Movement: Automatic caliber 3638, 28,800 VpH/4Hz, 168-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, date, lunar calendar and Chinese hours
Limitation: 50 pieces in red gold with oven-fired green enamel dial
Price: $ 72,400

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