There are many watch brands that love Chinese culture, and you can get a glimpse of it from the production of zodiac watches every year, especially this year.
This fierce competition, which began more than half a year in advance, has reached twenty or thirty players who have entered the market one after another. Although they all appeared with the slogan of "welcoming the Year of the Dragon", who really did enough sincerity, discerning people can see at a glance.
The superficial idea that the addition of red and Chinese characters can be summed up with Chinese elements and simply stacked with simple symbols and patterns is difficult to convince Chinese consumers to pay for today.
So, what kind of zodiac chart can convince Chinese consumers?
Blancpain, a 10-level lover of Chinese culture and a top Swiss brand, gave us a perfect score this year.
Blancpain Classic V Chinese Annual Calendar "Auspicious Dragon" Limited Edition 0888
To make a zodiac watch, it is popular in the circle to use the form of "zodiac pattern + festive color" to create. The way to compete is nothing more than to see whose dragon is carved interestingly and the color scheme is more pleasing to the eye.
Although watch brands are willing to show goodwill towards the Chinese market, the reality is that it is not easy to truly understand Chinese culture. As a result, Blancpain's preciousness is highlighted
Not only did it make a zodiac watch, but it also made it possible for the world to see the Chinese time.
At a time when most watch brands are still rigidly piecing together the various elements of the Chinese zodiac, Blancpain has already created a unique mechanism for the operation of the Chinese calendar, in the process of learning from traditional Chinese culture.
Combining the five elements of the Ganzhi year, lunisolar calendar, twelve hours, and the zodiac, the astronomical calendar, which most Chinese have not yet understood, is integrated into traditional Swiss watchmaking, and the first two sets of time systems in the East and the West operate in the same core.
When it comes to traditional Chinese culture, Blancpain is a veritable scholar. Shot, that is, it is required to reach the ceiling-level level.
If the perpetual calendar, one of the "three complications" of watchmaking, is based on the Gregorian calendar and operates according to the law of "December in a year, a leap in four years, 365 days in a normal year, and 366 days in a leap year", only a few high-end brands can control it; There are even fewer people who can make a Chinese calendar.
For no other reason, it's really too difficult!
The Chinese almanac follows the lunar calendar, which is more complex than the Gregorian calendar. The calculation method of the light year can already stun a group of people: ten heavenly stems + twelve earthly branches, and sixty jiazi and one reincarnation.
What's more, it is also necessary to observe the law of "seven leaps in nineteen years" to consider leap months.
Because the intercalation in the Gregorian calendar can also be roughly calculated by "dividing by four"; However, the position of the leap month in the lunar calendar needs to be calculated by combining the synodic month with the 24 solar terms, and the month without the middle solar term is selected as the leap month.
The Chinese lunar calendar divides the 24 solar terms into 12 solar terms and 12 middle terms. Logically speaking, there is an interval of 15 days between each solar term and the middle air, and one solar term and one middle air should be allocated every month.
But we all know that the number of days in the month is not fixed in the calendar. For example, in the lunar calendar, there are large and small months, with 30 days for the big month and 29 days for the small month. This will lead to some lunar months, and Zhongqi may fall at the end of the month.
For example, in 2023, the mid-air spring equinox falls on the 30th day of the second lunar month; The next Zhongqi will wait until the first day of the new year 30 days later. Because there is no mid-air during the month of waiting, we call it the leap month of the previous month, that is, the leap month.
In this way, compared to the Gregorian calendar, which only counts leap years and adds one day in February, the leap months of the lunar calendar have no fixed month, and there is no regularity at all.
Therefore, it is unimaginable to carry such an ultra-complex calendar into the design of mechanical gears. What's more, this is a new initiative that has never been done before – meaning that Blancpain did not have any existing structure to refer to in the process of creating the Chinese calendar.
Horrifyingly, this may already be a "hell" challenge for other brands, and Blancpain itself will have to make it even more difficult. In addition to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Gregorian calendar is now commonly used. In the square inch, the two sets of calendar systems are displayed in parallel, and the strength is impressive.
Since the beginning of the Chinese New Year tradition in 2012, the Blancpain Chinese Calendar has gone through a cycle of Chinese zodiac signs. In 2024, Blancpain is pleased to present the Villeret Classic V Chinese Annual Calendar Limited Edition "Green Gold Dragon", limited to just 50 pieces worldwide.
The red gold case and green enamel dial combine intricacies with signature aesthetics. In mechanical watchmaking, there are not many brands that can make large flame enamel watches.
After the multi-layer firing process, how to debug the combination of heat, time and color not only tests the proficiency of the process technology, but also tests the synaesthesia cooperation of the vision and hand power of the brand craftsmen.
The Chinese calendar is mainly composed of 4 special hands, 1 zodiac window and 1 leap month window, with three sub-dial designs, you can view the 12 hours, the 12 zodiac signs, the five elements of the earthly branches, the lunar sun and moon, leap month and other time information.
The Gregorian date is indicated by a traditional serpentine hand, and the iconic moon phase window is set at 6 o'clock, which both follows the time system of the Gregorian calendar and reflects the subtlety of overlapping with the Chinese calendar.
Thanks to Blancpain's patented concealed adjustment mechanism, all information can be quickly adjusted at any time.
The zodiac elements are concentrated on the zodiac aperture and the red gold oscillating weight at 12 o'clock on the dial. The frosted red gold oscillating weight is engraved with the auspicious dragon of the Chinese zodiac sign of Jiachen, with a ruby resembling a dragon ball on one side of the dragon's head and the Chinese character "Jiachen" engraved on the side of the dragon's tail. In order to fit the local Chinese culture, the model of the zodiac watch also adopts the auspicious "0888" number marking.
It is powered by the automatic mechanical calibre 3638, which took five years to assemble by hand, and has a power reserve of up to 7 days. Composed of 464 individual components in a six-layer structure, the movement is far more complex than a perpetual calendar and as difficult as a minute repeater.
It is no exaggeration to say that in terms of its attitude towards the zodiac watch and even traditional Chinese culture, whether it is the design or the functional settings, only Blancpain has achieved a truly Chinese style.
Compared with brands that only regard traditional Chinese festivals as ordinary marketing nodes, blindly pile up configurations, and only want to harvest leeks, Blancpain's decision to open up a niche track market and focus on traditional Chinese culture is enough to show that its love for the Chinese market is from the bottom of its heart.
In the face of a sincere attitude, routines, skills, and grandstanding are just floating clouds. Perhaps, more international brands should understand that only respect and love can continue to build a mountain of craftsmanship with the momentum of accumulation.
And time will tell.