Blancpain watches tend to be conservatively styled but made to a high standard in terms of materials, fit and finish. This new Villeret is no exception. With a 42 mm case in rose gold, the Villeret 8 Days is typically Blancpain in style, with a thin bezel, small lugs, leaf hands, and of course Roman numerals on its grand feu enamel dial.

Fired multiple times at 1000°C, the grand feu (literally translated as “great fire” but referring to enamel or porcelain baked at high temperatures) enamel dial has numerals and text which are painted in enamel and then fired alongside the dial itself. This is more complex to execute, and also more durable, than the commonplace printed texts on dials. 

One tell-tale sign the dial is fired enamel, instead of lacquer, is the thickness of the dial visible in the aperture of the date window.

The movement is the in-house cal. 1335, which has an eight day power reserve – that’s a 192 hours – and a rotor decorated with honeycomb guilloche.

Pricing has yet to be announced.