Blancpain Villeret 7002

Blancpain Villeret Ultra-Thin Ref. 7002 Limited Edition Blue Dial

It’s no secret the Villeret Ultra-Thin Chronometer is one of my favorite watches, an absolutely perfect case size, excellent quality, finishing, and details throughout, making for a lot of watch for the money. This takes that up a notch with the truly seldom seen blue dial limited edition of just 200… and it’s on Blancpain’s exceptionally well-made bracelet. If you follow this market at all, you know how rarely these pop up. Case: The 36 x 40 x 6.7 mm stainless steel case features an elegant stepped double shoulder bezel that showcases the expansive dial and provides classic interest and design. The watch is very thin, super easy to wear and pretty perfect on most wrists. The case appears to potentially have been lightly polished in the past namely on portions of the caseback, however the lugs retain their original full and sharp proportions and don’t appear to have been compromised. Dial: The blue dial has a decidedly sportier appearance with the lumed Arabic numerals and block markers as well as those very prominent lume filled sword hands borrowed from the Leman models. The dial retains the same depth and dimensionality of the more commonly found Breguet numeral variants, showcasing a soleil center section, a radial-satin hour track, and a return to the soleil on the outer minutes track. These dials are so elegant, refined, and well finished, making for a perfect mix of sporty, modern, classic, and true showcase of watchmaking chops. The blue dial variants were purportedly made exclusively for Wempe and remain very difficult to find. Movement: The manually wound Blancpain caliber 64-1 is a heavily modified and finished Pseaux 7001 that was Blancpain’s only certified chronometer upon release. The watch is winding and setting smoothly and running at approximately -20s/d, service history is unknown. Bracelet: The jubilee meets double-grain rice alternating center links will fit an approximate 6.75” wrist. These bracelets are exceptionally robust and well made, providing a very solid, yet refined feel. Includes: A Delugs color-complementary suede / nubuck strap is being included in very good condition.