Blancpain | Ladybird

In 1956, Betty and Jean-Jacques Fiechter, then directors of Blancpain, boldly launched the Ladybird watch with the smallest round movement of its time. This unique women’s collection quickly became both famous and successful. Still a symbol of elegance, it is now being expanded with new colourful models.

A bit of history…
At but 16 years of age, Betty Fiechter joined Blancpain in 1915 as an apprentice. Although fresh from her studies, she could not have foretold where her engagement would lead. Betty was destined to stay at Blancpain working full time for another 45 years and as a trusted advisor for yet an additional ten years, a career spanning more than a full half century.

When she joined, Blancpain was led by the seventh generation of the Blancpain family, Frédéric-Emile Blancpain, a descendant of the founder Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, who was recorded on the village rolls of Villeret as a watchmaker in 1735. Betty Fiechter’s responsibilities at Blancpain grew rapidly as she became head of manufacturing as well as technical and commercial development.

Frédéric-Emile died suddenly in 1932. With his loss came the end of the family name Blancpain for the business, as he had no male heirs and his daughter did not wish to take up the enterprise. There were, however, capable hands eager to take over the company: those of Betty Fiechter who, together with the Blancpain sales director André Léal, pooled all their savings and purchased the company in 1933, renaming it Rayville-Blancpain, Rayville being a phonetic anagram of Villeret. Owing to an oddity of Swiss law, this name change was not optional. With no member of the Blancpain family remaining associated with the business, the new owners were required to alter the official name.

The early days were not easy for Betty Fiechter. The Great Depression walloped the entirety of the Swiss watch industry, causing widespread business failures and producing massive unemployment. Blancpain’s solution was to seek refuge in the American market, which, by the mid-1930s, was in sounder condition than prevailed in Europe. The opening which Fiechter found was as a movement supplier. Over time, Blancpain became a principal supplier of Gruen, Elgin and Hamilton.

A further blow to the enterprise came with the passing of Fiechter’s co-owner, André Léal, on the eve of World War II. Betty Fiechter thus found herself in a unique and indeed pioneering position in the watch industry. She became the world’s first woman patronne (president) and owner of a prestige watch business, one which then counted between 200 and 300 employees. Holding this position single-handedly until 1950, her profile in the Swiss watch industry became legendary.

One of the specialities begun by Betty’s mentor, Frédéric-Emile, was the production of small movements destined for women’s watches. Starting just before World War I, Blancpain developed a small oval calibre and a baguette-shaped calibre, both of which proved to be extremely popular. Betty Fiechter expanded and made this speciality bloom.

Betty’s achievements in her leadership of Blancpain formed the platform for what was to come when she was joined by Jean-Jacques Fiechter, her nephew. Jean-Jacques, with a degree in history and destined, in fact, to complete a doctorate, entered his aunt’s business with no background in watchmaking. The career development and training of her nephew was a priority for Betty and she organised a full year’s program to expose him to and train him in Blancpain’s finance, marketing and products. When this programme was completed, Jean-Jacques was given charge of new product development and day-to-day operations at Blancpain.

Following the completion of his training year, Jean-Jacques joined Betty on the governing board of Blancpain, which then consisted of only the two of them. They jointly led Blancpain until 1960, when it merged into SSIH (Société suisse pour l’industrie horlogère). Throughout this time, they collaborated closely and often travelled as a team to meet with clients. Both Betty and Jean-Jacques served together on the larger SSIH board until 1970, when Betty fully retired.

Birth of two iconic models
The creation of two models, which are not only iconic but have become pillars of the brand’s collections, testifies to the early years of this joint leadership: the Fifty Fathoms, the first modern diver’s watch, and the Ladybird, a model designed for women. From the outset of the Ladybird project, the ambition was to design a small, round and ultra-resistant model. The Fiechters successfully met this challenge!

There were two key innovations that Blancpain developed for the construction of what became not only the world’s smallest round movement, but one endowed with vitally important sturdiness despite its diminutive size. The first was the addition of one extra wheel in the gear train. What was the genius of the added fifth wheel? It helped to control the force arriving at the escapement, bringing robustness to the design.

The second innovation was the addition of anti-shock protection for the balance wheel. Pre-existing extra-small movements, in the interest of size, omitted this critical element. Of course, this omission rendered these calibres particularly fragile. Blancpain found a way to adapt anti-shock designs so that they could be fitted into the microdimensions of the Ladybird movement.

As for the size, it was a record: 11.85mm in diameter. Along with the record size for the movement overall was another record, the smallest balance wheel. So small, in fact, that Fiechter found that only the most skilled watchmakers could master its construction which required poising the smallest-in-the-world balance wheel with 22 miniscule gold screws.

A “ladybird” worn by stars
The naming of Fiechter’s creation as the Ladybird lay at the intersection between French and American English. What he had in mind was the word coccinelle which is the French name for a ladybug (ladybird in British English). In French, that fit perfectly and captured the essence of the petite size of the movement and the refinement of the watch. But there was a problem translating into American English. Although coccinelle may be romantic and is indeed lyrical as it rolls off the tongue, the American translation, “ladybug”, enjoys neither of these virtues. To dodge this harsh conundrum, Fiechter had the inspiration to bulldoze translation issues to one side and adopt what for Americans would be the entirely fanciful name “Ladybird” which would remain the same in both languages.

Creativity did not stop with the groundbreaking movement. Blancpain invented the “Bullet” version of the Ladybird with an easy strap-changing system, which was a world first for a high-end timepiece. The back of the watch had a slot into which the strap was threaded. In only a matter of seconds, with no manual dexterity required, the strap could be changed to a different colour. Indeed, the Bullet Ladybird was sold with a selection of straps in a choice of three hues.

Blancpain’s Ladybird enjoyed enormous commercial success, both with watches sold under the name Blancpain and with those sold under the name of different watch brands and jewellery houses. Following the model pioneered by Betty Fiechter, many Ladybirds were exported as finished movements. Thereupon, these watches were completed by outfitting them with an outer gold case and, in most cases, adding decorative jewels. One of the richly gem-set pieces was chosen by Marilyn Monroe.

Since it debuted in 1956, the Ladybird has been a fixture in Blancpain’s collections. Although the movements have changed over the years and taken on the added luxury of automatic winding, Ladybirds have always been Manufacture’s signature small diameter timepieces.

Ladybird Colors
Blancpain is now paying tribute to this iconic model with the launch of the new Ladybird Colors collection available in seven sparkling shades.

The white mother-of-pearl dial is adorned with slightly rounded applied gold Arabic numerals, sized to form an asymmetrical hour circle crowned by the number 12. A band of diamonds highlights the hour-markers while embracing the hands, whereas those displaying the hours and minutes are shaped like hollowed-out sage leaves.

The red or white gold case has also been carefully designed to guarantee harmonious proportions. Its 34.9mm diameter ensures a generous display of the watch’s finery, while at the same time offering flexibility and adjusting to a wide range of wrists. It is further distinguished by a bezel, lugs and crown set with 59 diamonds totalling over 2 carats.

A true jewellery watch, the Ladybird Colors features high-end gemsetting in which each element is meticulously hand-crafted. Before placing the gems in the holes created for this purpose, the gemsetters hollow out the material using scorpers to create a thin clean-cut band of precious metal (fillet) on either side of the diamonds. Known as “recutting”, this step is important because it has a considerable influence on the brilliance of the model by producing a mirror effect. The diamonds are precisely aligned one by one so that their facets reflect the light in unison. The artisans then push back the beads formed from the precious metal over the gems to hold them in place. They then manually work the separation between the beads in order to perfect their creation. This must be done with great accuracy to avoid damaging the stones.

The demanding level of finishing applied to the dial and case of the Ladybird Colors is reflected in its movement, in-house Calibre 1153, which is renowned for its slenderness and its generous four-day power reserve, as well as its silicon balance spring. Rich in both structure and contrasts, it combines a circular-grained mainplate with chamfered, satin-brushed bridges adorned with a Côtes de Genève motif. To offer the clearest possible view of these aesthetic details, Blancpain has developed an openworked gold oscillating weight, matching the circular patterns of the watch face. Viewed from both front and back, this model sparkles thanks to a rose-cut diamond fitted on the crown.

The Ladybird Colors marks the dawn of a new era for Blancpain’s feminine watch collection. It brings a fresh elegance through seven colourful case and strap combinations. According to personal preference, the red gold model is available with a choice of peacock green, midnight blue or satin-white alligator leather strap, while the white gold version can be paired with a lemon yellow, tangerine orange, lilac or satin-white alligator leather strap. Each wristband is fitted with a gold pin buckle or folding clasp set with nine diamonds.