The FF Sport is a piece I’ve long admired from afar, but I really fell in love with it after trying it, and a few other FF versions, on a few months ago while visiting Chicago. It stood out to me as a special piece, even among a lot of other spectacular pieces I tried on during that trip. I knew after that trip that I would own one someday. However, a few months later I tried one on the bracelet, and while I still liked it, that experience took some of the shine off the watch for me. I really couldn’t figure out exactly why for a while, but then it struck me that I really didn’t love the FF Sport on the bracelet. The X-71 bracelet is an incredibly well constructed, objectively amazing, monstrously expensive bracelet, but it does absolutely nothing for me. To me, this watch belongs on a strap of some sort.
After a bit of trying, I was finally able to land a FF Sport. I have to give big thanks to Drew (aboen) who was a killer enabler during my quest to buy this thing.
I’m not one for long reviews, but I’ll just say a little about the watch. I’m no photographer, so if you want to see some good pics, Jae has posted many before.
Case: This is a simple-appearing case, but it is extremely well finished. The entire case is polished. The “Blancpain” writing along the 9 o’clock case side may annoy some, but I like it. It’s 45mm in size, but wears a bit smaller, certainly smaller than a 44mm Panerai for instance. The downward-angling lugs help in this regard.
Dial, markers, and hands: Deceptively simple, the dial actually consists of an outer brushed portion and an inner portion which exhibits almost a sunburst effect in certain light. I’m a sucker for a 12-3-6-9 dial (the inner PAM fanboy in me?). The date works well at 4:30. The sword hands are really well-proportioned, and look great. The touch of red on the seconds hand adds just a little bit of color to the piece.
Crystal and bezel: The crystal is slightly domed, lending a vintage feel to the piece. The sapphire bezel looks great, and is also domed. My watch had a bezel spring upgrade performed at Blancpain USA earlier this year. The bezel clicks are extremely positive with no backlash, but the feel could be much smoother, and can’t begin to compare with the feel of the DSSD bezel (the best feeling dive bezel I’ve ever used).
Crown: Winds very smoothly, and lines up perfectly with the case, which is cool.
Movement: The Blancpain cal. 1315 has 3 barrels, and a 5-day power reserve. Unfortunately, mine’s not keeping great time, losing 4-6 secs a day on the wrist, although it’s dead on off the wrist. Interestingly, the watch was regulated at Blancpain earlier this year during the bezel upgrade. I don’t know if it might settle down a bit with time, but this one might be going back for regulation in the near future.
Lume: I really could care less about lume, but this thing is an absolute torch. Best lume I’ve ever seen in a watch, and yes, this includes the PO, Omega 2254, and even the Seiko monster.
Strap: OK, Blancpain could have done much better here. The sailcloth strap looks good, and works well in the water, but is just too thin. This is most apparent at the lugs, where the strap just does not fill the lugs well. I suppose the thinness of the strap highlights the watch itself well, but I think this watch demands a thicker strap. I’ve got a leather strap on order. The straps are secured by a 0.9mm hex screw system. I’ll see how easy strap changes are soon.
Overall I’m extremely happy with this watch. It's a totally modern diver with plenty of cool vintage styling cues, and it wears extremely well. Whether or not you believe that the Fifty Fathoms was the first true modern dive watch, it was certainly one of the first, and it’s nice to have a bit of that history on the wrist. I won’t even go into the fact that today’s Blancpain is not the Blancpain that made those classic Fifty Fathoms though.
Sorry this went on much longer than I intended. I’ll leave you with a pic of two of the descendants of the two original modern dive watches.
