Seventy years after the Ladybird Bullet, Blancpain revisits its history of mechanical miniaturisation with the diminutive new Lady B
The best thing about having a long and rich history is that there is often a treasure trove to dive into. For Blancpain, you do not have to venture far into the recesses of its archives to uncover an icon like the Fifty Fathoms. The dive watch has, in many ways, become the face of the manufacture, and understandably so. But Blancpain’s 291-year history runs far deeper than its most recognisable watch.
Look beyond the Fifty Fathoms, and several other layers of Blancpain’s history, and you’ll find a story of women’s watchmaking, mechanical miniaturisation and Betty Fiechter, the woman who took the helm of the manufacture and, in 1956, helped create one of the smallest and most technically ambitious watches of its era: the Ladybird Bullet.
Seventy years later, Blancpain has gone digging through this particular corner of its history again. The result is the Lady B, a svelte, spherical mechanical watch that draws its inspiration from the original. Despite its delicate 19 mm size, there is a lot more packed into it than you may first suspect.
Betty Fiechter’s place in Blancpain’s history extends well beyond the Ladybird. Having joined the manufacture as an apprentice in 1912, she became its co-owner in 1933 and would eventually become the first woman to own and lead a Swiss watch manufacture. Fiechter also believed that women’s watches deserved the same mechanical ingenuity as anything else Blancpain produced, with miniaturisation becoming one of the manufacture’s particular strengths.
This pursuit culminated in the Ladybird Bullet of 1956 and the R55 calibre within it. Measuring just 11.85 mm across and 3.7 mm thick, the R55 became the smallest round mechanical movement produced in series, a distinction it still holds today. But its size was only half the achievement. Blancpain also engineered the diminutive movement for robustness, incorporating a fifth wheel into the gear train, as well as shock protection for the balance.
Fast forward 70 years and the newly unveiled Lady B is built around Blancpain’s calibre 615, an automatic movement measuring 15.7mm in diameter and just 3.9mm thick. That, in turn, has allowed Blancpain to package the entire watch into a 19mm case.
Rather than shrinking the proportions of a conventional round watch, Blancpain has done away with the lugs altogether and shaped the case into a sphere. At 13.2 mm thick, it gives the Lady B the appearance of a polished pebble sitting on the wrist.
Accentuating this effect is the strap that is integrated into the architecture of the timepiece. Instead of attaching to spring bars between a pair of lugs, the 10 mm calf leather strap passes directly through a narrow opening machined into the back of the case before wrapping twice around the wrist. Beyond keeping the silhouette clean, the arrangement also makes swapping straps a simple affair, with six colours available ranging from light beige and burgundy to fuchsia purple and classic blue.
A diminutive timepiece brimming with historical depth, the Lady B possesses far more nuance and significance than its modest size might first suggest. But then, with Blancpain, there always seems to be more beneath the surface.
