Jeffrey Kingston on the New Blancpain Villeret

by Silvia Bonfanti

Jeffrey Kingston is an American watch specialist, historian, author, lecturer, and collector. After a successful career as an attorney specializing in antitrust and intellectual property law, he devoted himself to the study, preservation, and promotion of watchmaking culture. He collaborates regularly with several watch manufactures and leading industry publications, notably serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Lettres du Brassus, Blancpain’s magazine. Based in Sun Valley, Idaho, Jeffrey Kingston divides his time between his work in horology and his other passions, including fine dining, the great wines of Burgundy, and travel. He is also a member of the NorCal Gang, a circle of collectors and watch enthusiasts from Northern California.

I spoke with him recently following the release of the new Blancpain Villeret 38mm.

Check out Silvia Bonfanti’s review of the new Blancpain Villeret 38mm

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The Villeret has always embodied understated elegance rather than immediate visual impact. Why do you think this design language has proven so enduring in a market driven by constant novelty?

Novelty has a fundamental problem: all too soon after its introductory fireworks, the novelty fades away and fatigue sets in. Classic elegance, on the other hand, is timeless. The beautiful aesthetics of Villeret…thin profile; double stepped bezel; elegant understated dial layouts, hands, indexes…are as relevant and appealing today as they were when the first model debuted in 1983.

In recent years, Blancpain has regained strong visibility thanks to the Fifty Fathoms. Do you think the new Villeret 38 mm could mark a return of attention toward the Maison’s more classical identity as well?

The 38 mm models do not mark a return to Blancpain’s classical identity. Blancpain never departed from that identity. In many ways, fidelity to great design, marks the Fifty Fathoms history as well. Today’s Fifty Fathoms collection reprises the inspirations from the 1950’s when the Fifty Fathoms pioneered and defined the modern diving watch with a formula that has been copied by the entire industry ever since. Certainly, great attention has been devoted to the revival of the Fifty Fathoms which had basically disappeared for more than two decades. But bringing the Fifty back from its slumber in no respect diminished Blancpain’s faithfulness to the Villeret pillar of the house.

The colourways of the Blancpain Villeret 38mm collection — Blancpain Villeret 38mm Collection

Among all the Blancpain watches you have encountered throughout your career, which do you believe best represents the essence of the Maison? And if you could keep only one for your personal collection, which would it be and why?

Blancpain today is largely defined by three core collections, each of which is tied to a brilliant history: Villeret, Fifty Fathoms, and Ladybird. No one of these by itself is the essence of Blancpain. They all are! As for “only one”, I would pick from both Villeret and Fifty. For Villeret, I am utterly smitten by my red gold, green dial perpetual calendar. Thin, elegant, classic, and with its shaded green dial, fresh. Plus, it overflows with unique to Blancpain technical innovations: its correctors under the lugs that not only eliminate the need for case side dimples for setting the calendar, but, in addition, permit setting with a fingertip; a safe calendar construction that protects the movement from damage if one were to set the indications during the times of night when the automatic daily advance takes place (counterpoint: almost all other perpetual constructions would suffer breakage under that circumstance). For the Fifty, could anything be better than the Act 1 that debuted in 2023? Sapphire bezel, sensational 1315 three barrel movement, with a platinum winding rotor.

Thinking back to your earliest impressions of Blancpain, what do you remember most clearly? Was there a specific watch or moment that defined your relationship with the Maison?

Easy question to answer. My introduction to real watch collecting began more than three decades ago with a 34 mm yellow gold Blancpain complete calendar moonphase (with a Gay Freres bracelet which, of course, was a name I did not know at the time).

You have personally experienced the revival of mechanical watchmaking. Looking at younger collectors today, what do you think is most often misunderstood or underestimated about traditional Swiss watchmaking?

I admit that I am a hopeless gearhead geek. I always look first at the movement and want to satisfy myself of great design and finishing. It seems that some today take an Instagram approach to evaluating watches. Important substantive details taking a backseat to surface appearances.

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About the author

Silvia Bonfanti, known as “The Classy Wrist,” is an Italian journalist specializing in watchmaking, a press officer and co-organizer of Watches of Italy, the leading Italian event dedicated to independent watchmaking held in Milan. She writes about watches, lifestyle and other topics, approaching them with a refined, attentive and critical perspective that goes beyond appearances. You can follow her on Instagram.

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