Blancpain’s new Lady B is a rare example of the female side of the vintage watch revival, reminding us that the great era of mid-century watch design did not just happen on the men’s side. The Blancpain watch that inspired the Lady B was the Ladybird Bullet, launched in 1956, an event perhaps overshadowed by the brand’s iconic dive watch, the Fifty Fathoms, which came out three years earlier in 1953. In fact, we owe it all to Betty Fiechter. True fans know that both models were created by Betty and her nephew Jean-Jacques Fiechter, who together shaped Blancpain for two decades.

So who was Betty Fiechter? In 1932, the sudden death of Frederic-Emile Blancpain, the last seventh-generation member of the family to lead the company, left Blancpain in an uncertain situation for the first time in 200 years. Having entered Blancpain’s workshop in 1912 a

t the age of sixteen as an apprentice, Betty Fiechter, along with commercial director Andre Leal, sought and obtained loans to acquire the Manufacture. And so it was that in 1933, Betty Fiechter became the owner of Blancpain. The death of Andre Leal, several years later, left her alone to run the company.

Needless to say, a woman of such strength of character was determined to expand Blancpain’s interests both geographically and in terms of product development. She was joined by her nephew Jean-Jacques in 1950, and their combined ambitions led them to the United States to supply movements to a number of watchmaking houses there. At the same time, they worked on strengthening the offer of timepieces for women, notably with models offering the same technical merits as for all other watches. It should be noted here that even during the quartz crisis, Blancpain has never made a quartz watch. The tiny mechanical movement in the Ladybird Bullet was the manual-wound caliber R52/R55, and it was the world’s smallest round mechanical movement ever produced in series. The new movement, caliber 615, is one of the smallest automatic movements on the market, and contains a silicon balance spring. 

The case shape of the Ladybird Bullet was distinctive for its time, and 70 years later, it still resonates as something modern and unconventional. It was designed in the space-age era, when science, innovation and a fascination with the future profoundly transformed visual culture. Straight lines gave way to organic forms. In 1956, Eero Saarinen designed the Tulip chair, for example, whose single pedestal revolutionized furniture design. Charles and Ray Eames pursued their exploration of organic forms in furniture, and in automobiles, General Motors created the Firebird III (1958), which celebrated volume through its emblematic bubble cockpit.

At only 19mm, the spherical, bubble shape of the Lady B case is small in diameter, but commands a huge presence. Achieving a perfectly continuous polish on a sphere this small is one of the major challenges of making it, according to Blancpain. The goal was to create a small but monolithic volume, as though it were carved from a single block of metal, even though its construction is far more complex than it appears.

Blancpain Lady B — A Closer Look

The Blancpain Lady B Collection — Photography by Victoria Townsend

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The organic, spherical form is uninterrupted by lugs. The bracelet loop is instead integrated, and passes directly through the case with no visible attachment. The double-tour calf leather strap comes in seven color options, and there is a complimentary additional strap. 

The Lady B in Six Colors

Mocha0064 3642 E17Discover Blue0064 3642 B24Discover Beige0064 3642 I07Discover White0064 3642 D01Discover Purple0064 3642 M03Discover Burgundy0064 3642 C05Discover

Ladybird Lady B, 19 mm red gold, self-winding caliber 615, interchangeable double-tour calf leather strap

As a final observation, it is interesting to note that the Lady B also holds physical attraction to men! Indeed, many have confirmed that its strong visual appeal is fascinating - small in size while powerful in design - a sign that Betty Fiechter perhaps had even more insight than we imagined!