Yes is the answer you’re looking for.

OK, the Swatch-Omega Moonswatch thing was a sale success, queues in the streets, scalpers doubling their cash on eBay and Etsy etc. For a while. Try selling a Moonswatch now, especially that pooh brown one, see what the premium is.

You see pulling the same stunt twice in watch marketing rarely works. In any event, the bio-OK, plastic, let’s just say plastic case, Blancpains merely serve to underline how great the real dive watches from the brand have been over the last 7 decades or so.

But there is another factor to consider. Ask a non-watch person what they think of Blancpain and they will say “Sorry, who?” Most normies have only heard of brands like Rolex, Omega, Breitling, TAG, Patek…maybe Hublot if they are a football fan. Blancpain is such a niche part of the Swatch empire, frankly only Breguet and Mido are more obscure or unloved by the general populace.

FYI, there are five variants of the Swatch Blanc Cheques, sorry Blancpain Fifty Fathom tributes to collect. Each is named adter an ocean and has a very cool semi see-thru caseback, as well as a unique case colour; blue, gold, green, red and white. Each watch has a different graphic on the caseback too.

Inside you will find the basic Sistem 51 movement, which can’t be adjusted and is a sealed for life unit, bit like the old Tissot Astrolon/Lanco plastic watches from the early 70s. The Sistem51 is inside lots of mechanical Swatches too, nothing wrong with it. The Blancpain tie-in models are depth rated to 91m, which is good for a fashion watch, but nothing special.

SCALPERS ARE KEEN

Yeah the price isn’t too bad at £340 in the UK. It’s in the Boss, Armani, Kors or Casio, Seiko ballpark.

To be fair, the Mail Online has reported that some dealers in Australia have seen overnight queues for the new Swatch Blancpains. Most will be thinking there could be a handy £100-£200 profit to be made for a day’s work and for many of us regular people, that’s a win.

But NWC mag thinks this fever will vanish like the rcent UK heatwave by late September. The watch market is in a tougher place than it was when the MoonSwatch wowed the industry. Inflation has hit millions of people with big bills and globalist governments are planning more fines, more taxes on movement, more climate related bullshit like breaking into your house to arrest you for having a gas boiler. The disposable income once set aside for fun stuff like fashion watches is shrinking fast, as food, fuel and keeping a roof over your head takes centre stage.

MESSING WITH BRANDS KILLS THEM EVENTUALLY

Look what VW-Audi announced recently, the Seat brand will be retired. Decades of selling it as a cheap version of a VW Golf or Polo have taken their toll. Jaguar Land Rover is ditching the Land Rover. Probably a wise move now that the Defender cannot be manufactured and sold at an affordable price in the UK. Instead car brands use invesnted tripe like Cupra, or piddle about like Toyota who pretend that the Lexus brand is somehow a luxury car on par with a BMW, Audi or Mercedes and actually competes for the same company car/boy racer/drug dealer market segments. It doesn’t wash, it doesn’t fool anyone.

That’s the problem we have with the Swatch branding racket. You can’t just re-case Swatch watches and stick other brands on the dial and caseback. Create some really affordable dive watches from the house of Blancpain, something that outperforms Tissot and yet undercuts Oris or Breitling. If indie brands like Enoksen can make a 1000m dive watch with a quartz movement for £300 surely Blancpain can design a stunning looking 1000m quartz/auto for about £1500/£2000.

Verdict; Badge engineering didn’t work for the British motorcycle and car industry in the 60s and 70s. Make something original Blancpain, a beautifully finished, brilliant diver that’s affordable and market your new, entry level products with wit and style. It can be done.