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Blancpain

A maker of mechanical watches in the Vallée de Joux that dates its beginning to Villeret in 1735. Revived in the early 1980s after its years inside SSIH, it has belonged to the Swatch Group since 1992 and is known for the Fifty Fathoms diving watch.

Founded 1735, Villeret, Switzerland, Owned by The Swatch Group, since 1992

In the history The mechanical revival and the independents

A black-and-white aerial view of a village of pitched-roof houses along a valley road, with strip fields rising behind and woods in the foreground.
Villeret, aerial photograph by Werner Friedli, 12 September 1950.5 Photograph: Werner Friedli, ETH-Bibliothek Zürich. Cropped here. View full original at Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · 6,834 × 4,695 px; CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Adapted; shared alike.

Two centuries in Villeret

Jehan-Jacques Blancpain entered himself as a watchmaker in the records of Villeret, a village in what is now the Bernese Jura, and the business stayed in the family for almost two centuries. Blancpain calls itself the oldest watch brand in the world.1, 2, 4

Frédéric-Louis Blancpain reworked the Villeret workshops in 1815, and his son Frédéric-Emile renamed the company and built a large manufacture there. When Frédéric-Emile died in 1932 he left the firm to his long-time assistant Betty Fiechter, who from 1950 ran it with her nephew Jean-Jacques Fiechter.1, 4

In 1961 Blancpain joined SSIH alongside Omega, Tissot and Lemania, and besides its own watches became a centre of movement production for the group.1, 4

A time line of Blancpain from 1735 to today. Based in: Villeret from 1735 to 1982, Vallée de Joux from 1982. Owned by: The Blancpain family from 1735 to 1932, Betty Fiechter from 1932 to 1961, SSIH from 1961 to 1982, Jacques Piguet from 1982 to 1992, The Swatch Group from 1992. Dots mark the key dates.
Where Blancpain has been based and who has owned it, from 1735 to today. The dots are its key dates.1, 2, 3, 4

Revival in the Vallée de Joux

In 1982 Jacques Piguet, heir to the Frédéric Piguet movement business founded by his family in the Vallée de Joux, bought Blancpain, and in 1983 he brought in Jean-Claude Biver. The brand moved to the Jura valley, where the old Piguet mill at Le Brassus now holds its workshops for complicated watches.1, 4

A black-and-white aerial view over forest to a broad valley floor with a village, fields and scattered farms, and a long wooded ridge beyond.
Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux, aerial photograph by Werner Friedli, 17 July 1964.6 Photograph: Werner Friedli, ETH-Bibliothek Zürich. Cropped here. View full original at Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · 6,063 × 4,243 px; CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Adapted; shared alike.

In 1992 Piguet sold Blancpain and Frédéric Piguet to SMH, the future Swatch Group. Frédéric Piguet was merged into the Blancpain manufacture at Le Sentier in 2010, and the case maker Simon et Membrez in 2022.1, 3

The Fifty Fathoms

The Fifty Fathoms of 1953 was designed by Jean-Jacques Fiechter, himself a diver, with a lockable rotating bezel, a double-sealed crown and a luminous dark dial. A US Navy report of 1959 recommended adopting its features, and in 2023 Swatch drew on it for a Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection.3, 7, 8

Who made the first modern diving watch is disputed. Blancpain claims it for the Fifty Fathoms of 1953; Rolex says its Submariner, also launched in 1953, was the first divers’ watch waterproof to 100 metres. Independent accounts point to the Omega Marine of 1932 as earlier still.7, 9, 10

Key dates

  1. 1735

    Jehan-Jacques Blancpain registers as a watchmaker in Villeret.1, 4

  2. 1815

    Frédéric-Louis Blancpain modernises the Villeret workshops.1, 4

  3. 1932

    On Frédéric-Emile Blancpain’s death the firm passes to Betty Fiechter.1, 4

  4. 1953

    The Fifty Fathoms, designed by Jean-Jacques Fiechter.4, 7, 8

  5. 1961

    Blancpain becomes part of SSIH.1, 4

  6. 1982

    Jacques Piguet buys Blancpain; production moves to the Vallée de Joux.1, 4

  7. 1992

    SMH, the future Swatch Group, buys Blancpain and Frédéric Piguet.1, 3, 4

  8. 2010

    Frédéric Piguet is merged into the Blancpain manufacture at Le Sentier.1, 3

  9. 2023

    Swatch launches a Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection with Blancpain.3

Where Blancpain leads

  • Made, ObjectThe Harwood self-winding watch

    The Science Museum records its Harwood of about 1930 as made for Harwood by Blancpain.11

  • Owned by, GroupThe Swatch Group

    SMH, the future Swatch Group, bought Blancpain and the movement maker Frédéric Piguet in 1992.1, 3

  • Formerly owned by, GroupSSIH

    Donzé writes that Blancpain belonged to SSIH before it was sold in 1983.12

  • Based in, PlaceThe Jura Arc

    Blancpain began in Villeret in the Bernese Jura and has worked in the Vallée de Joux since the 1980s.1, 4

  • Worked with, CompanySwatch

    Swatch’s Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection of 2023 drew on Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms diving watch.3

  • Part of, HistoryThe mechanical revival and the independents

    The brand relaunched in the early 1980s on the promise of never making a quartz watch, Works in Progress says.1, 13

  • Part of, TraditionDive watches

    The rival claims for 1953: the Fifty Fathoms and the Submariner.7, 8, 9

  • See also, CompanyOmega

    Blancpain joined Omega’s group SSIH in 1961 and became a centre of movement production for it.1, 4

  • See also, EventThe luxury-group consolidation

    SMH’s purchase of Blancpain and Frédéric Piguet in 1992 was an early step by the Swatch Group to the top of the market.3

Elsewhere in Watch Vault

Facts and sources

Founded
17351, 2, 4
Founder
Jehan-Jacques Blancpain1, 2, 4
Founded in
Villeret, Switzerland1, 4
Based in
Le Brassus and Le Sentier, Vallée de Joux, Switzerland1, 4
Owner
The Swatch Group, since 19921, 3, 4
Official site
blancpain.com (opens in a new tab)1

Sources

  1. 1

    History (opens in a new tab), Blancpain, official

  2. 2

    Blancpain (opens in a new tab), The Swatch Group, official

  3. 3

    Swatch Group History (opens in a new tab), The Swatch Group, official

  4. 4

    Blancpain (opens in a new tab), Wikipedia, independent

  5. 5

    Villeret, aerial photograph by Werner Friedli, 12 September 1950. (opens in a new tab), Wikimedia Commons, public record

  6. 6

    Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux, aerial photograph by Werner Friedli, 17 July 1964. (opens in a new tab), Wikimedia Commons, public record

  7. 7

    Fifty Fathoms (opens in a new tab), Blancpain, official

  8. 8

    Fifty Fathoms origins (opens in a new tab), Blancpain, official

  9. 9

    Rolex history, 1953 to 1967 (opens in a new tab), Rolex, official, archived copy

  10. 10

    Diving watch (opens in a new tab), Wikipedia, independent

  11. 11

    Harwood self-winding wrist-watch of about 1930 (1958-263) (opens in a new tab), Science Museum Group, public record

  12. 12

    The comeback of the Swiss watch industry on the world market: a business history of the Swatch Group (1983-2010) (opens in a new tab), Pierre-Yves Donzé, Osaka University, MPRA Paper 30736 (April 2011), independent

  13. 13

    Watch men (opens in a new tab), Works in Progress (Aled Maclean-Jones), 2 December 2025, independent

Sources read November 11, 2026.