If you’ve been following for any length of time, you know I’m a huge proponent of how much value there is in neo-vintage Blancpain, and this early steel Villeret chronograph is a perfect example.  An early Biver-era example with an in-house, manually wound, column wheel, Frederic Piguet Caliber 1180 movement, makes this a stealthy pick as it looks identical to the far more common automatic caliber 1185 variants, and benefits from a slightly thinner case profile.  The common factor that makes me love this era of Blancpain so much is these watches feel like they should cost far more than current market suggests; the fit, finishing, refinement, and attention to detail are all excellently executed.  And in a modern landscape that suggests an in-house column wheel chronograph movement can’t be housed in anything less than a 14 mm thick case, this presents such a tasteful choice though and through.

Case:  The 34 x 37 x 8 mm stainless steel case is in very nice original condition throughout.  The case appears to be unpolished and exhibits some light surface scratches throughout commensurate with age.  A really, nice, and honest example that presents very cleanly on wrist.  The magic in these “smaller” neo-vintage Blancpains might be in the 19 mm lug width, that certainly provides more presence on the wrist than the diameter alone might suggest.

Dial:  The matte, eggshell textured white dial is clean and free from defects and features several tasteful details that are easy to miss at first glance:  The sunken subregisters are elegantly presented as the bevel for the step down from the main dial is polished, presumably from the silver or white gold base metal of the dial, which appears as a thin metallic ring around each subdial when viewed on wrist, a really subtle and elegant detail.  The printing throughout the dial is applied in a rich gloss black ink that is slightly raised, adding another subtle touch of elegance and refinement.  The tritum-filled hour and minute hands are intact and present a uniform UV signature, fading quickly after exposure, and have a nice patina to them.  And lastly, if you’re going to do Roman’s, especially applied Roman’s, this is the way to do it, very thin, elegant, and not dominant to the dial.

Movement:  The Frederic Piguet caliber 1180 movement is a hand wound, column wheel chronograph that was “in-house” at the time, being vertically integrated with the brand.  The watch features a quickset date discretely tucked into the running seconds subregister at 6, and is functioning properly throughout.  The watch is running very well at approximately +1.5 s/d averaged across 6 positions.

Includes:    The watch includes like new Dassari leather strap and the original signed steel pin buckle.