Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar “Year of the Fire Horse”
A fusion of Gregorian and Chinese calendar elements with an unexpected - and highly appealing - salmon-coloured enamel dial welcome the Year of the Horse.
Blancpain unveiled its Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar in 2012, an extraordinarily complex watch that fuses the traditional lunisolar Chinese system, elements of the Gregorian calendar, and a moon phase. A world first, Blancpain’s masterpiece coincided with the Chinese Year of the Dragon. For 2026, Blancpain returns with a 50-piece limited edition in platinum dedicated to the Year of the Fire Horse with an original and surprising choice of colour for the Grand Feu enamel dial.
In a classic Villeret style, the luxurious 45.2mm platinum double-stepped case is polished and features Blancpain’s patented correctors (5) to adjust the functions discreetly hidden under the lugs. Like Blancpain’s other Chinese calendar models, the zodiac animal is represented with utmost discretion, appearing in the small aperture on the dial at noon and engraved on the rotor.
The novelty for 2026 is the attractive salmon-coloured Grand Feu enamel dial. Warm and elegant, the lustrous salmon Grand Feu enamel will not fade over time, providing a vivid contrasting background. With so much information to relay, the dial is surprisingly tidy thanks to the symmetrical arrangement of the indications. The date is featured on the periphery in Arabic numerals and indicated by a blue serpentine pointer hand, while the moon phase aperture – with a signature Blancpain smiling moon face – appears in the lower half of the dial. The applied white gold Roman numerals for the hours and openworked sage-leaf hour and minute hands complete the Western calendar displays.
The Chinese calendar is compressed into three sub-dials. At noon, beneath the aperture revealing the figure of a horse, is a small sub-dial for the Chinese double hours. Arranged horizontally, the counter at 9 o’clock is dedicated to the lunar months and days, and the small circular aperture turns red when the year has a 13th intercalary month. The sub-dial at 3 o’clock, with a yin and yang symbol in its centre, indicates the five elements – wood, earth, fire, water and metal – and the ten heavenly stems. Since this is the Year of the Fire Horse, the blued hand should be pointing to the element of fire.
Five years in the making and far more complicated than a perpetual calendar, Blancpain’s automatic calibre 3638 combines two radically different approaches to quantifying time. Comprised of 464 components and capable of delivering a formidable 7-day power reserve thanks to three series-coupled barrels, the automatic movement beats at 4Hz and is equipped with a silicon balance spring. The finishings are traditional, including Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges. The frosted white gold rotor features a relief engraving of a galloping horse treading on a flying swallow, a reference to the horse’s speed. A natural ruby and the Chinese characters for “horse” and “fire” flank the central figure of the horse.
The Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar Year of the Fire Horse is paired with a brown leather strap and a white gold pin buckle. It is limited to 50 pieces and retails for CHF 81,000. More information at blancpain.com.
