In the past few years, various brands have introduced new timepieces in green and burgundy colourways as contemporary alternatives to the timeless greys, blacks, and whites. None, however, has managed to supplant blue as the de rigueur substitute for the classic colours. Blue is after all available in many more variants, and a fair bit easier to match with the rest of one’s ensemble. Its darker shades also exude a confidence and sophistication that many other hues will struggle to match.
It’s little wonder then, that Blancpain has offered its latest iteration of the Villeret Quantième Complet with a midnight blue dial. The collection, after all, showcases the manufacture’s vision of classical watchmaking and all its trappings, which makes the colour such an ideal match. The Villeret Quantième Complet itself is an exercise in class and restraint, and these are the qualities accentuated by the model’s new dial colour.
The Villeret Quantième Complet starts off with a red gold case measuring 40 millimetres across, which affords a larger dial for the triple calendar and moon phase display complications to be displayed. Indeed, the midnight blue dial here serves as the perfect canvas against which all the indices and indications sit, with its subtle sunburst texture and two-tiered structure also lending visual interest to the timepiece. Against this backdrop, two apertures at 11 and one o’clock display the month and day of week respectively, while a larger one at six o’clock tracks the moon phase. The date, meanwhile, is displayed via a curved hand that points to a ring of numbers sitting within the applied hour indices.
Blancpain’s mastery over design is shown here in its balance between all the elements on the dial – both in terms of their sizes as well as their positions vis-à-vis one another. You’ll also notice how the design language is rooted in gentle curves, from the stepped bezel to the leaf-shaped hour and minute hands, to even the typeface of the hour indices. The technical side of things haven’t been neglected either; the Villeret Quantième Complet is a svelte 11 millimetres high and comes equipped with under-lug correctors that eliminate the need for tools for adjustments.
Completing the package is a midnight blue alligator leather strap. A matching mesh bracelet in gold is also available.
