The Blancpain Villeret Collection is so named after the village and birthplace of the company, and it's hallmarked by its classical styling and traditional appeal. The collection has been core to Blancpain since the early 1980s and this new ultra-slim addition is an understated beauty. It's an alliance of pure aesthetic codes and technical refinement. Creating a movement with minimal thickness, whilst not sacrificing an iota of accuracy, has always been one of the greatest challenges facing the master watchmaker. This particular piece features date display, small seconds, power-reserve indication and a stunningly luminous white dial. Applied polished steel Roman numerals grace the dial and the elegant leaf-shaped, skeletonized hour and minute hands in polished steel are the perfect culmination to a crisp and subtle aesthetic. The calibre 11C5 is just 3.3mm thick and 26.2mm in diameter. The final dimensions are 8.55mm with a diameter of 40mm. A watch as refined as this is not really intended for swimming, but should any owner think little of getting wet with it, not a problem - it's water resistant to 3 bar. The beauty of this watch is that its easy elegance belies a slew of technical obstacles. To overcome these with such a slim movement is a mark of horological excellence.