Pulsometer Flyback Chronograph

 
This timepiece from the Villeret collection is welcoming a brand-new self-winding movement this year, beating at a rate of 36,000 vibrations per hour (5 Hz) and equipped with a flyback chronograph function. Moreover, for the very first time, it also displays a pulsometer function serving to check a heart rate quickly and easily. An ideal blend of technical sophistication and practical purpose.
 
This new model in the Villeret collection houses a new 13-ligne Manufacture-made calibre perfectly suited to the size of the case. This new movement with its heart beating at 36,000 vibrations per hour, a first at Blancpain, comprises 322 parts including a silicon balance spring. It is equipped with a vertical clutch as well as a chronograph mechanism controlled by a column wheel. It also features a flyback function enabling instant chronograph resetting and restarting simply by pressing a pusher at 4 o’clock – a device that proves extremely useful when measuring successive time periods.
 
These functions are for the first time complemented by a pulsometer. In an era when taking a pulse used to involve a 60-second measurement during which the number of beats had to be exactly counted, the pulsometer was devised to enable doctors and nurses to take their patients’ pulses more rapidly. The chronograph hand in association with a specially graduated scale makes it possible to display the patient’s heart beat directly on the dial without any need for calculations. All that is required for the hand to indicate the number of heartbeats per minute on the pulsometer scale is to start the chronograph and then stop it after counting off 30 heartbeats.
 
In keeping with the classic aesthetic of the Villeret collection, this new model comes with a cambered white Grand Feu enamel dial. The pulsometer scale surrounds enamel-painted Roman numerals, while the centre bears the chronograph 30-minute and 12-hour counters as well as a date window at 6 o’clock. The sapphire case-back reveals the latest Blancpain calibre featuring its oscillating weight adorned with a honeycomb motif. The 43.6 mm-diameter red gold case is teamed with a brown alligator leather strap setting the perfect finishing touch to this model.