Bearing the marks of the Chinese Calendar, Blancpain releases a limited edition timepiece crafted with the emblem of an ox named the Traditional Chinese Calendar. Paying homage to the Chinese traditional holiday, Chinese New Year, the 50-piece limited-edition watch’s Grand Feu enamel dial will reveal the complexity of a display combining Chinese calendar indications with those of the Gregorian calendar and moon phases.
The traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar is based on the lunar cycle as well as exact astronomical observations of the sun’s longitude. Thus, in addition to the hours and minutes, date and moon phases, Blancpain’s Traditional Chinese Calendar watch offers the main indications of the traditional Chinese calendar: double hours, days, months and leap months, zodiac signs, five elements and ten heavenly stems. The latter, combined with the 12 earthly branches – symbolised by the animals of the zodiac – produce 60 different pairs forming the sexagesimal cycle of the Chinese time measurement system.
Despite the complexity of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar, the functions of the watch are clearly indicated on a dial with Roman gold numerals and hollowed-out sage leaf-shaped hands. The ox, the animal of the year 2021, appears in an aperture at 12 o’clock above the double-hour counter. Symmetrically positioned at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock, two subdials respectively indicate the celestial stems and the five elements, as well as pointertype month and date indications and leap months through a round aperture. In a manner typical of Blancpain’s Complete Calendar watches, the moon phases that determine the months of the Chinese calendar can be read off at 6 o’clock, while a blued serpentine hand sweeps over the date numerals around the dial circumference.
Endowed with a seven-day power reserve, this Haute Horlogerie movement is housed in a 45 mm case featuring a crown set with a cabochon-cut ruby. It is equipped with Blancpain’s patented under-lug corrector system allowing easy function adjustments. The sapphire crystal case back enables one to admire the finishing of the movement and its white gold oscillating weight, engraved with the Chinese zodiac sign of the year.
Blancpain’s Traditional Chinese Calendar is also available in a non-limited version in red gold with a finely guilloché oscillating weight.
More information on Blancpain’s Traditional Chinese Calendar can be found here.
