Japan’s finest
Blancpain Villeret Métiers d’Art Binchõtan
Through its Métiers d’Art collection, Blancpain continually innovates by combining the expertise of its artisans with a range of ancestral decorative techniques rarely seen in watchmaking. As for this year, the brand is presenting its first dials featuring binchōtan, a charcoal made from Ubamegashi oak in the Kishu region of Japan. To begin with, binchōtan is a Japanese charcoal made using traditional methods dating back over 400 years. Its remarkable quality lies essentially in its density, resulting from the slow combustion of Ubamegashi (Holm oak) in a clay oven heated to temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1300 degrees Celsius. That being said, this new watch is solid proof of Blancpain’s creativity and clearly highlights its watchmaking expertise.