Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph 42.5 mm watch review
The Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph blue dial 42.5 mm is inspired by the much sought-after Blancpain chronograph of the 1950s. However, as Mark McArthur-Christie explains in his own wonderful way, this 21st-century creation has many additional attributes worthy of mention.
Watch collectors
Before the internet, watch collectors were regarded as, well, a little bit odd. Why on earth would someone be interested enough in wristwatches to collect the things? There was the occasional clock fair in a dusty hall somewhere where the faithful could gather in the hope there’d be watches, a few antiques markets with watch stalls and the local library could get you a copy of George Daniels’ ‘Watchmaking’ if you didn’t mind the raised eyebrows and staring. But one didn’t mention a watch obsession in polite company.
Historical watches – a lack of information
Likewise, most watch firms kept only the records they needed for getting parts, keeping track of orders and the accountants happy. They had absolutely no clue that, forty years hence, there’d be writers, collectors and even watch researchers poring over them and Sherlocking every line for clues about past models, prototypes and variants. This paucity of information was only made worse during the lean years of the late 1970s and 1980s when so many invaluable records simply went in the bin after takeovers or closures or ended up as firelighters for Vallée de Joux bonfires. One can only hope that, over the years, some of the old records that might have been spirited away begin to surface again.
Blancpain Air Command – tracking down the truth
This all means that trying to track down the truth about the original Blancpain Air Command from the 1960s is largely a matter of making informed(ish) assumptions from minimal source material. Were the small number (we don’t even know for sure how many there were) of Air Commands test mules for a hoped-for military contract? Were they prototypes to capitalise on the design success of the Fifty Fathoms when translated into a chronograph? Were they just an attempt to broaden the range from divers to flyers? We’re still hoping for that box of documents to turn up, but until then everyone’s guessing.
The Blancpain Air Command – always a striking watch
No matter the uncertainty about its history, the Air Command was a striking watch. One could perhaps argue that there was a little too much dial between the tachymeter scale and the rehaut, that the crown was a bit skinny for the job – the pushers likewise – and the caseback underwhelming, but this is probably horological heresy. Perhaps not entirely fair, either; the Air Command was, perhaps because rather than despite its idiosyncrasies, a beauty. And now the Swiss marque has released an updated version, the Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph 42.5mm.
Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph 42.5 mm – not a direct copy of the 1960s original
First things first; this isn’t a direct copy of the 1960s original but there are absolutely no questions about parentage. Two sub-dial chronograph – tick. Flyback – tick. Tachymeter scale – tick. Bi-directional Blancpain bezel – tick. It’s clearly a direct descendent. But the new watch sorts out some of those issues – if indeed they really were issues – with the old watch. The tachymeter scale goes right up to the edge of the rehaut, getting rid of all that wasted space that unbalanced the previous dial. The pushers have been to the gym and the crown has hit the protein supplements as well as the weights. Everything now seems much more in proportion and just right for the watch. You don’t get the wonderful creamy tritium of the ‘60s, but come on – you can’t have everything. The hour and minute hands are still syringes, but a little less pronounced and no longer white-painted for contrast, relying on polished metal reflection instead. The seconds hand is likewise, but now has lume of its very own.
Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph – a new case
The case is different, too. Where the original used drilled lugs, the new watch relies on conventional lugs. Drilled lugs make strap changes simpler (and fixed spring bars even more so) but perhaps they didn’t work quite as well on this new model. And now you get your choice of case material. None of that cheap old stainless steel, oh no. The Air Command’s Aunt Millicent has died and left it comfortably off; it’s titanium or 18 ct red gold, thank you very much. Just 0.5 mm in diameter larger, though, so still faithful to the early watch’s proportions. Where the original was polished throughout, the new watch mixes brushing on the case sides with polished chamfers which works well on a watch with a possible military heritage. The bezel matches the case for its material and uses a ceramic insert with Super-LumiNova hour markers. Its lack of minute markers makes it a little hard to use for elapsed time measurement but it’s handy enough and looks the part.
It has 3 bars – so 30 m – of water resistance, so you may not want to go swimming but worry-free everyday wear is certainly possible.
Blancpain calibre F388B
The caseback gets round the problem of being uneventful by becoming completely see-through. It’s sapphire, so it lets you enjoy the movement. Where the old watch ran a 17 jewel Valjoux 222 movement, the updated model goes for a rather more sophisticated 35 jewel, 293 component calibre F388B that’s well-worth looking at. It beats at a solid 5Hz and winds itself with a rather unusual chamfered, cutaway winding weight in the same material as the case you selected.
The main thing is that you still get that gloriously snappy flyback chronograph action. Rather than faffing about with having to start, stop and reset the stopwatch, all you do is start it running with the 2 o’clock pusher, let it time as you need and then snap it back to 12 with a single press of the reset at 4. It combines three steps into one. Being a flyback, it keeps running as you do so when you’ve had enough, simply stop it with the 2 o’clock pusher and reset. Even if you really don’t mind pushing start, stop and reset, there’s a joy in using a flyback; everyone should have one.
There’s beauty as well as practicality. The movement plate edges encompass anglage and graining while the screw heads are polished. The dial side of the movement, even though you’ll only ever see it if you’re on first-name terms with your watchmaker, is adorned with perlage. It always bodes well when a maker takes as much care over the bits you can’t see as the ones on display.
The difficulty in procuring an original Blancpain Air Command
If you fancy tracking down one of the original Air Commands, it’s possible but not likely. They don’t even feature too often at auction – hardly a surprise as we still don’t really know how many survive.
One popped up at Phillips in 2016 and fetched 100,000 CHF (around £85,000). The same watch then surfaced again in 2019, once more at Phillips but this time in Hong Kong where it was hammered down for HK$1,125,000 (£117,000 ish). So with prices already into six figures, it’s a safe bet to assume they’re likely to soar higher.
Then there’s all the worry about wearing something that’s as rare as a steak sandwich at an Oxfordshire County Council lunch. You can snag a new Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph 42.5mm for around a tenth of what an original is likely to fly for and enjoy it without fretting every time you buckle it on. And there’s a lot to be said for worry-free watches. With this one you get a watch that’s arguably more beautiful than the original, that’s perfectly useable and that tells the story of its ancestor as well as the time.
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph 42.5mm
- Reference: AC02 12B40 63 (Titanium); AC02-36B40-63 (18K red gold)
- Case: Diameter 42.5 mm; height 13.77 mm; water resistance 3 ATM (30 m); sapphire crystal to the front and exhibition case back.
- Functions: Hours; minutes; tachymeter scale; flyback chronograph
- Movement: Calibre F388B; automatic movement; frequency 36,000 vph (5 Hz); 35 jewels; power reserve 50 hours.
- Strap: Blue calfskin strap with folding clasp
- Price: £15,900 – AC02 12B40 63 (Titanium) – (RRP as of 26.6.2022)
- Price: £25,600 – AC02-36B40-63 (18K red gold) – (RRP as of 26.6.2022)