First released in 1953, Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms was Blancpain's first commercially available modern dive watch. The timepiece was developed in association with the French Navy and their professional diver unit, the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage. The head of this unit was Captain Bob Maloubier, who personally sketched out the watch that would one day be fully realized as the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Maloubier found a champion for his project in Blancpain’s CEO Jean-Jacques Fiechter - a passionate diver himself. Fiechter named the watch after the greatest depth that a combat diver was believed able to withstand at the time, fifty fathoms or 91.45 meters.

Through the last decades, the Fifty Fathoms has become a highly sought after and collectible mid-20th century watch. Extremely robust and reliable, it was truly designed by military professionals, and was soon selected by other militaries around the world for their diving units, including the U.S. Navy. The watch combined cutting edge features such as an anti-magnetic and water-resistant case, a screw down caseback, a "double O-ring crown system", an automatic movement and a rotating bezel.

Retailed by LIP around 1955, the present timepiece is a real treasure for collectors seeking a historically important and conceptually modern tool watch in great overall condition.