News 
With a strong commitment to the underwater world for more than 60 years the watchmaking house continues to support the Gombessa project led by scientist Laurent Ballesta. This French researcher and his team will benefit from an additional donation of 250,000 Euros derived from sale of the first Blancpain Ocean Commitment limited edition timepiece.
Following the Gombessa II adventure initiated in 2014 in French Polynesia, a new project focusing on the pack hunting behaviour of sandbar sharks has been unveiled. Inaugurated last summer in the archipelago with a first 35 day expedition, in 2017 this project will enable numbered data to be added to the observations and previously established hypotheses; enhanced protection will then be proposed for this important biodiversity site. This adventure will be financed by the purchasers of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment limited edition watch and will be the subject of a documentary due to be shown by the end of the year.
Despite the scale of the Gombessa II project, Blancpain and Laurent Ballesta have not confined themselves to a single expedition but have launched the Gombessa Antarctica III edition which enabled an entire team of technical divers to gain access below the ice flow in Adélie Land. These dedicated dives which presented both a human and technical challenge were unprecedented and led to the very first naturalist illustration of the deep Antarctic eco-systems.
October 20, 2016