1990s Blancpain Ultra-Thin Platinum

In 1981, Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet purchased Blancpain and paved the way for a revival that re-established the brand as a powerhouse in traditional Swiss mechanical watch-making. As a direct response to the Quartz Crisis, Biver and Piguet famously centered their efforts around the slogan: "Since 1735 there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch. And there never will be.” Indeed, much of the 11 years of their leadership was spent developing the company’s “six masterpieces”, a collection of classically designed watches that focused on discrete sizes and high complications. The move proved to be a massive success and in 1992 Blancpain was sold to the SMH Group (now the Swatch Group) for nearly 3,000 times what the two had originally paid.

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Shortly after the sale, Blancpain’s new leadership crafted the next evolution of its traditional watch-making with the sportier and slightly larger Léman line in 1994, as well as several limited production series in the late 1990s that sat somewhere in the middle. The headliner of that group was none other than the infamous 7002 with its C.O.S.C certified hand-wound movement. Around the same time, Blancpain also released an automatic version of the 7002 under the reference 1161. The two shared much of the same design language and sizing, and several of the same dial and case configurations. However the 1161 distinguished itself with the added practicality of a date window and a whopping 100-hour power reserve.

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Offered here is an extremely rare and beautiful variant of the 1161 with a cream dial, Breguet numerals, and a platinum case. We speculate this watch was specially produced in very limited quantities, as few have surfaced over the years and the serial numbers of known examples are quite low (this one being 13). Both the cream dial and platinum case subtly elevate the watch's classic style and make for something truly remarkable. For collectors who revere the 7002, this scarce automatic counterpart should not be overlooked.