Blancpain’s Villeret Ultraplate Makes A Compelling Case For The Art Of Quiet Luxury

Imagine Villeret, 1983. Across Switzerland, the quartz crisis is rewriting the rules of watchmaking. Batteries are replacing balances; electronics are threatening centuries of mechanical craft. 

Yet somewhere within Blancpain’s world, another decision is being made. 

Rather than retreat, the Maison doubles down on the thing quartz cannot replicate: the poetry of a mechanical movement.

The result is the complete calendar with moon phase, astonishingly compact at 34mm and, at the time, the smallest of its kind. Its double-stepped bezel, restrained proportions and famously expressive moon would become the aesthetic DNA of what we now know as Villeret. 

Curiously, the collection itself would not officially acquire the Villeret name until 2002. 

That act of horological defiance matters when considering Blancpain’s newest Villeret Ultraplate. Because the new 38mm model is not simply another elegant dress watch. It is an argument for proportion, discretion and the increasingly rare pleasure of wearing something whose sophistication reveals itself slowly.

The new 38mm Ultraplate now sits alongside the collection’s established 40mm case, broadening its appeal without compromising the essential Villeret silhouette. Measuring just 8.35mm thick, it is an unusually persuasive proposition for the modern gentleman who understands that refinement is rarely improved by excess. 

Inside beats Blancpain’s Manufacture calibre 1150, an automatic movement measuring only 3.25mm thick, with a silicon hairspring and a substantial 100-hour power reserve. Through the sapphire case back, its open-worked gold oscillating weight provides an appropriately discreet glimpse of the machinery beneath. 

Yet it is the dial work that gives this latest chapter its sartorial electricity. For the first time, Villeret ventures into sunburst salmon, its coppery, rose and golden reflections changing with the light. Black-treated 18ct gold Roman numerals and an anthracite nubuck strap temper its warmth with unmistakable metropolitan cool. 

The alternative gold-toned opaline dial is quieter, more traditional and arguably even more versatile.

Then comes the boutique-exclusive two-tone reference: stainless steel, solid 18ct yellow-gold numerals, gold-toned opaline dial and an olive-green nubuck strap. It is a delicious study in contradiction—precious yet restrained, classical yet distinctly contemporary. 

The kind of watch that rewards a second glance rather than demanding the first. 

Blancpain has also extended the aesthetic revisions introduced in Autumn 2025 into this smaller case: refined 18ct gold numerals with satin-finished surfaces and polished bevels, the JB monogram replacing the traditional XII, slender Super-LumiNova® hands and a larger date aperture. 

For Blancpain President & CEO Marc A. Hayek, the philosophy remains admirably uncomplicated: “The Villeret has always expressed its character through restraint rather than display.”  

It is a sentiment that feels almost rebellious in an era when luxury frequently equates visibility with value.

That restraint has particularly deep roots. Blancpain traces its origins to 1735, when Jehan-Jacques Blancpain registered himself as a watchmaker in Villeret; the family retained ownership for almost two centuries. 

The Maison would subsequently become synonymous with mechanical resilience, ambitious complications and, of course, the groundbreaking Fifty Fathoms. 

The new 29.2mm Villeret Phases de Lune provides another, more jewel-like interpretation of that heritage. Its signature moon phase is framed by diamond-set bezel and indexes, while Manufacture calibre 913QL brings hours, minutes, seconds, date and moon phase together with a silicon hairspring. 

And then there is an unusually modern flourish: straps and buckles can be exchanged without tools, simply by fingertip. With five years’ warranty, Haute Horlogerie finishing and a selection of nubuck and alligator straps, Villeret becomes less a static dress watch than an adaptable wardrobe of horological elegance. 

The temptation, naturally, is to call the salmon 38mm the star. one would argue otherwise. Its real triumph is that Blancpain has resisted shouting. 

In an increasingly crowded luxury-watch landscape, the Villeret Ultraplate whispers—and somehow commands the room.

The new Villeret Ultraplate retails from RM 42,900 onwards and is available now in all Blancpain boutiques and authorised Blancpain retailers worldwide. 

*Photos courtesy of Blancpain.