2000s Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph 40mm

Here, we have a 2000s Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph with a muscular, profiled 40mm polished stainless steel case, and thick drilled lugs curve over your wrist for a comfortable fit. Down the right side, we have screw-down pushers for the chronograph and a signed screw-down crown in the centre, each with matching deep knurling; on the left side, a deeply engraved “Blancpain”. The uni-directional bezel has deep knurling and a polished 60-minute dive scale in high relief for a 3d effect, and a flat sapphire crystal AR coated sits above the dynamic black sector-style dial. The matte outer ring has a minute track, 1/5th seconds precisely executed with small numerals surrounds applied Arabic and baton indexes coated in Super-LumiNova marking the hours, and the three registers consist of a 30-minute, small second including a colour-matched date window and finally a 12-hour at 9 o’clock, each slightly recessed. Wide sword hands filled with Super-LumiNova are complemented by an arrow-tipped chronograph hand; at 12 o’clock, we have the Blancpain motif “Air Command” “200m’ 660ft,” which completes this rugged sports chronograph. On the reverse a screw-down solid case back, inside an automatic Blancpain Cal. F185, 37 jewels, beating at 21,600 beats per Hour, this quality flyback column wheel movement is based on the Frédéric Piguet 1185. The watch comes paired with its 20mm Blancpain stainless steel bracelet with solid end links and screwed links for sizing, secured by a push button signed butterfly clasp and will fit up to a 7-inch wrist.

This watch is sold as Watch Only and, therefore, comes without its Blancpain box or paperwork. The watch comes paired with its 20mm Blancpain stainless steel bracelet with solid end links and screwed links for sizing, secured by a push button signed butterfly clasp and will fit up to a 7-inch wrist. The watch is from Circa. 2000s and is sold in used condition, but overall, it is in fair condition, as you can see from the photos. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.

This Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph in 40mm is a model you don't see on the market often, this reference 2285F-1130-64B is a wonderfully honest example ready to be purchased, thrown on the wrist and enjoyed today. It is also a surprising strap monster, so don't hesitate to swap out the bracelet for a rubber or leather strap to give it a completely different look and feel on the wrist. Book an appointment to see this in the metal for yourself!

Reference : 2285F-1130-64B
Movement : Automatic Blancpain Cal. F185
Age : Circa. Early 2000s
Year : Circa. 2000s
Case Size : 40mm
Case Thickness : 13mm
Lug to Lug : 45.5mm
Lugs : 20mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box and Papers : None
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
The wrist model's wrist size is 7inch

Jehan-Jacques Blancpain founded his watch business in 1735, utilising the upper floor of his farmhouse as a workshop. His son, David-Louis Blancpain (1765-1816), was committed to growing his father's business by travelling often through Europe, in particular to France and Germany, selling and delivering Blancpain watches. Frédéric-Louis handed the company to his son, Frédéric-Emile, when he was just 19 years old due to his bad health. The company became known as 'E. Blancpain’. Emile achieved remarkable success, building the business into the largest and most effective enterprise in Villeret. Frédéric-Emile, the grandson, continued heading the company until 1932. During his later years, he was joined in 1915 by Betty Fiechter, who assisted him in running the business. She joined the company as an apprentice when she was just 16, and quickly, her responsibilities at Blancpain grew to become head of manufacturing and commercial development. Frédéric-Emile was so confident in her skills and talent that he started training her to take on responsibility for production and becoming the director of the company, which was an incredible achievement for a woman during that time period. In 1926, the company entered into a partnership with John Harwood, a British watchmaker who had produced the first self-winding wristwatch, obtaining a Swiss patent in 1924. With Betty Fiechter as the director, Blancpain had to survive the Great Depression of the 1930s. One such way was to open their movement supply to other brands. In this period, Blancpain became a supplier of Gruen, Elgin and Hamilton, among many others. She was joined in 1950 by her nephew Jean-Jacques Fiechter, who had a key role in the development of the Fifty Fathoms, the world’s first modern diving watch, which debuted in 1953. Collaborating with the French combat divers, Jean-Jacques promoted its widespread adoption by many navies around the world, and it was also used by the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau and his team. In 1961, the company merged into the largest Swiss watch group, the Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère (SSIH), where they joined Omega, Tissot and Lemania. Inside this Group, they saw huge growth, even building new facilities and production soaring to more than 220,000 pieces by 1971. This growth was not to last, as a combination of events hit at once. First, we saw the fall of the dollar against the Swiss franc, which reduced their transatlantic exports. Second, a serious oil crisis triggered a worldwide recession. To top it all off, the entire Swiss watchmaking industry was severely hit by the huge growth in imports of quartz watches from Japan, referred to as "the quartz crisis.” The Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) seriously needed a new strategy, so it decided to build its own quartz watches rather than mechanical ones. In 1993, it sold the Rayville-Blancpain name to Frédéric Piguet, a partnership between Jacques Piguet and Jean-Claude Biver, who was then an employee of SSIH. The new company traded under the name of Blancpain SA and set up production in an old building belonging to the Piguet family at Le Brassus, in the Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. In 1991, Blancpain presented the most complicated wristwatch in the world at the time: the 1735 Grande Complication. This incredible timepiece featured a one-minute tourbillon regulator, a perpetual calendar with moon phases and moon age, a co-axial split-seconds chronograph and a minute repeater activated by the slide on the band. A master watchmaker worked over ten months on the Blancpain 1735 Grande Complication, which had a production run of just 30 pieces from 1991 to 2009. In 1992, the Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) bought Blancpain SA back for 60 million Swiss Francs (more than 1000 times the amount paid for the brand in 1983). It was during this time that SSIH and ASUAG - the two largest Swiss watch groups - merged into the Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries Ltd. (SMH). SMH was later renamed The Swatch Group in 1998. Jean-Claude Biver remained CEO of the company until 2003