The Blancpain Villeret Saint-Valentin 2021

When it comes to luxury timepieces for women, Blancpain’s Villeret feminine collection has been a source of inspiration for the company’s annual Valentine’s Day release. For the past 21 years, Blancpain has released a timepiece in celebration of love. In 2019 it released a Villeret Women Quantième Phases de Lune watch, which we covered here, complete with a diamond-set bezel and hour track. Similarly, this year’s Blancpain Villeret Saint-Valentin 2021 watch features a case crafted from 18k red gold set with diamonds on the bezel and diamond dot indexes. The design, limited to just 28 pieces worldwide, focuses on balancing inner and outer beauty to mark this romantic date on the calendar, putting the performance of a tried and tested in-house-built Blancpain movement on show through a transparent caseback.

Blancpain has played a pioneering role in the evolution of women’s wristwatches. From as early as 1930, when the manufacturer developed its first self-winding lady’s wristwatch, the Maison has been dedicating time, technique, and focus to miniaturizing its movements without compromising on performance or accuracy, despite often having to contend with smaller case sizes. Blancpain continued to write its own history during a period of female empowerment, creating women’s watches driven by the vision of long-term assistant, Betty Fiechter when she became the first female CEO of Blancpain in 1933.

The Villeret Saint-Valentin 2021 watch is inspired by “lightness” and indulgent materials. Bringing attention to a mother of pearl dial is a cupid’s arrow-shaped second hand in matching 18kt red gold, which pierces a crimson red heart detail. This new Women Villeret Date watch also features openworked minute and hour hands. A 30-meter water-resistant case holds the Blancpain Calibre 1151 at its centre, a descendant of the 1150, which has performed in watches from the Fifty Fathoms collection and the Villeret Ultraplate before now. The Calibre 1151 is another remarkably slim movement, which has also powered the hands of the Ultraplate models. Its silicone balance spring is amongst a total of 210 individual, hand-assembled components, all arranged behind a sapphire crystal glass exhibition caseback. The movement also provides a 4-day power reserve.

Completing the elegant look of the Blancpain Villeret Saint-Valentin 2021 watch is a matching crimson red alligator leather strap with an 18kt red gold buckle. The watch is priced at USD 22,500 and more details can be found at www.blancpain.com.