Inspired by vintage Blancpain chronographs from the 1950s, the Air Command is the Swiss manufacturer’s lineup of aviation-themed flyback chronographs. While the collection originally debuted in 2019 as a stainless steel limited edition with a black dial, the collection now includes a quartet of models with blue dials and bezels that are available in two different case sizes and crafted from either grade 23 titanium or 18k red gold. Now, for its latest release of 2024, Blancpain has created a pair of limited-edition Air Command watches that expand upon the concept of the standard-production titanium models with black ceramic bezels and military-themed “Camouflage Green” dials.
While the smaller Blancpain Air Command (ref. AC03-12B53-63B) measures 36.2mm in diameter by 11.5mm thick, the larger model (ref. AC02-12B53-63B) comes in at 42.5mm in diameter by 13.7mm thick. Additionally, while the smaller version has lugs set 18mm apart, the larger Air Command model has a lug width of 22mm. Both sizes of the Blancpain Air Command feature box-shaped sapphire crystals with screw-down display casebacks, and both models also offer the same (fairly minimal) 30 meters of water resistance. Similar to the standard-production models, the new “Camouflage Green” Air Command watches are crafted from grade 23 titanium, which is similar to grade 5 titanium in terms of its overall composition, although it contains reduced levels of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and iron, which increases the biocompatibility, ductility, and fracture toughness of the material.
From a fundamental design and construction standpoint, the new limited-edition “Camouflage Green” Blancpain Air Command models are more-or-less identical to their standard-production counterparts. Just like the rest of the Air Command collection, the new “Camouflage Green” watches feature a signed winding crown flanked by a pair of pump-style chronograph pushers on the right-hand side of the case. Similarly, the two new limited-edition models also include bidirectional rotating bezels fitted with luminous 60-minute countdown inserts made from ceramic. However, rather than featuring blue ceramic inserts like the standard-production titanium Air Command watches, the new “Camouflage Green” versions are fitted with black ceramic inserts with vintage tan-colored Super-LumiNova markings, just like the original limited-edition model from 2019.
The dials fitted to the new “Camouflage Green” Blancpain Air Command watches offer an identical layout to the standard-catalog models, and they feature a two-register layout with Arabic numeral hour markers and a tachymeter scale surrounding the outermost perimeter of the display. However, while the standard-production titanium models are fitted with blue sunburst dials, the new limited-edition “Camouflage Green” versions receive matte green dials with khaki printing and vintage tan-colored Super-LumiNova to further lean into their military-themed appearance. Similarly, while the new “Camouflage Green” Air Command watches are also completed by two-piece calfskin leather straps with matching titanium folding clasps, the straps for the new models now appear in a muted shade of olive green to match the color of their dials.
Both sizes of the “Camouflage Green” Blancpain Air Command are powered by 35-jewel automatic flyback chronograph movements that feature silicon balance springs and rotors shaped like airplane propellers. However, while the smaller model is powered by the Caliber F188B, which operates at a frequency of 21,600vph (3 Hz) with a power reserve of 40 hours, Blancpain’s larger Air Command watches receive the Caliber F388B, which runs at a significantly higher frequency of 36,000vph (5 Hz) while also offering a longer power reserve of approximately 50 hours. Additionally, while both movements rely on column wheels to operate their flyback chronograph complications, the smaller Cal. F188B consists of 255 individual parts, while the larger Cal. F388B features a slightly more complex construction with 297 components.
The smaller 36.2mm version of the new “Camouflage Green” Blancpain Air Command (ref. AC03-12B53-63B) will be produced as a limited edition of 100 examples with an official retail price of $20,500 USD, while the larger 42.5mm version (ref. AC02-12B53-63B) will be priced at $21,800 USD, and it will have a larger production run of 200 examples. Compared to their standard-catalog titanium siblings that are fitted with blue dials and bezels, the new limited-edition “Camouflage Green” Air Command watches both represent a premium of $1,300, and while this isn’t all that much relative to the actual prices of the watches themselves, it undeniably feels like quite a lot to pay for what is essentially just a limited-edition colorway of the standard Air Command models. For more information on the Blancpain Air Command collection, please visit the Blancpain website.
