Every four years — a.k.a. when the Summer Olympics happens — February gets a novel change-up, in the form of a 29th day, and watch collectors around the world are able to pick up their perpetual calendars, and adjust them on the basis of this slightly inconveniencing astronomical phenomenon.
To mark the leap year of 2024, the watchmakers at Blancpain have revealed a new take on the classic Villeret Quantième Perpétuel — decked with a particularly lush green dial.
It’s not necessarily a new watch for Blancpain, which currently has close to a dozen different perpetual calendar references in its catalogue. However, the contrast between the red gold case and darkly sunburst green is bang-on: doubling as a nod to the coniferous forestry that surrounds the Blancpain manufacture in Le Sentier — one of Switzerland’s cradles of fine watchmaking.
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Just as the dial colour cribs from the natural beauty of the Vallée de Joux, the smiling moonphase, tucked away at 6 o’clock, is a celebration of the survival of mechanical watchmaking up until today.
With symmetrical balance across the dial, the hands and hour markers are hewn from the same red gold that is used to forge the case (itself featuring a classic stepped construction).
Powered by the self-winding Caliber 5954 (which gives wearers a tidy 3-day power reserve) this green Blancpain Villeret Quantième Perpétuel is an impressive work of watchmaking that automatically adjusts for variations in the calendar.
This includes accurately accounting for leap years and requiring no manual correction until the year 2100 (thanks to a quirk in the Gregorian calendar); all of which can be controlled using a set of pushers that Blancpain’s watchmakers chose — wisely, we think — to conceal beneath the lugs.
We were also big fans of the recent Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar, but it’s arguable that this particular perpetual calendar is likely to find a broader audience in Australia. Paired with a comfortable brown leather strap, you’ll find this new green-dialed Blancpain Villeret Quantième Perpétuel in-store now.
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