On the Bubble: The New Blancpain Lady B is a Tribute to True Greatness

Former Blancpain CEO Betty Fiechter was way ahead of her time. In 1939, she became the first woman to lead a Swiss watch manufacture. In the 1950s, when the Fifty Fathoms was also introduced, she spearheaded production of the world’s smallest round movement. And that mechanism became the basis of the first Ladybird Bullet in 1956.

Fiechter was also a visionary. Seventy years later, the Ladybird Bullet serves as the inspiration for the new Blancpain Lady B. At just 19mm in diameter and 2.9 cm³ in volume, this retro-futuristic watch is still unlike any other timepiece on the market.

A Little Bit of Betty

Born Berthe-Marie Fiechter (a.k.a. “Betty”) was raised in the remote Swiss village of Villeret. Her father, Jacob Fiechter, was the co-owner of a small, complicated watch movement company, Manufacture d’Ébauches Compliquées Eugène Rahm. She herself enrolled in the local École de Commerce (a dual education business trade school) whose curriculum included a part-time apprenticeship.

In 1912, she was placed at Blancpain – the largest employer in Villeret. Her 50-year tenure began two years before the outbreak of World War I, and withstood the Great Depression, WWII, the death of her business partner, her own battles with cancer, and the start of the quartz crisis.

Eventually, Fiechter was asked to take over the company as the dying wish of the last Blancpain family member to lead the brand, Frederic-Emile Blancpain. Together with the then-commercial director, Andre Leal, the two pulled together funds to purchase the company, which they did in 1933. Sadly, Andre passed away suddenly in 1939, leaving Betty to run the company solo until her nephew Jean-Jacques Fiechter joined her in the executive suite in the early 1950s.

Amazingly, all this happened before women across Switzerland had gained the right to vote (that happened in 1971).

Fiechter steered Blancpain through some unsettling times, but she was also a champion of business innovation. While other Villeret-based brands floundered, Fiechter made manufacturing women’s watches and movements the Maison’s focus. This was no easy feat, as developing and producing a small timepiece or movement is far more difficult than a large one.

This brings us to another crucial Fiechter move: Focusing Blancpain’s research and development on mechanical calibres, which saved the brand’s bacon as an important supplier to other watchmakers (“Since 1735, there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch. And there never will be,” was once Blancpain’s rallying cry. Even its Swatch crossover was powered by an automatic movement).

Bullet Points

In 1956, the R55 caliber became the world’s smallest round mechanical movement ever produced in series (11.85mm x 3.7mm). Basically, the size of a fingertip. As of this writing, this record remains on the books.