Blancpain Bathyscaphe Flyback Chronograph Blancpain Ocean Commitment II

Blancpain's newest watch deserves special attention, despite the fact that it just looks like another limited edition to celebrate some event. Blancpain's R&D deparment managed to develop an entirely blue ceramic case. The coloring is added during the ceramic production process, along with a binding agent to ensure it remains blue. Two methods are used to ensure the blue does not appear unevenly: a compaction process (where ceramic in powder form is pressed into a mold to obtain its shape) and an injection process (insert ceramic in the form of granules into the mold). They said it best and provided a better description than I could have, so I've included part of the press release below

[Compacting] enables the creation of a blueprint in the final shape. After this, the piece is placed in an oven on a low temperature in order to eliminate the bonding agent. When this is done, the latter is heated at a high temperature – a phase known as sintering – in order to give the ceramic its ultimate hardness. Lastly, the machining and finishing operations take place in order to provide the geometry and final look of each part. The compacting process was used for the case-middle, case-back, bezel and chapter-ring insert. The second technique involving the injection method was adopted for the crown and push-pieces. Suitable for small pieces, the latter is highly precise and complex to master. Up until now, it had not yielded satisfactory, sufficiently stable results for the blue color range.

The Flyback Chronograph BOC II is equipped with a F385 high-beat movement (36,000 BPH aka 5 Hz or 10 beats/second). For those wondering, yes, it is a column-wheel and has a vertical clutch. It is WR to 300m and has a bezel whose markers are in Liquidmetal. I hadn't realized another brand besides Omega (who introduced the innovation in 2011) was using the technology. It is limited to just 250 pieces and each will be delivered with an exclusive copy of a new book entitled “Hans Hass, Awakening to a New World”, the number of which will correspond to the serial number of the watch. Kinda cool, but it wouldn't make me want to buy the watch more.