2285F-1140M-71, AIR COMMAND MONACO YACHT SHOW, LIMITED EDITION

A Blancpain Air Command, ref. 2285F-1140M-71, made for the Monaco Yacht Show and limited to 150 pieces. The blue dial frames a flyback chronograph, set in a stainless steel case at 40mm. Inside is the automatic calibre F185, a flyback chronograph with a column wheel and vertical clutch. Press the reset pusher during timing and the chronograph returns to zero and restarts in one motion, a function built for pilots timing one leg of a flight after another. The solid caseback keeps the 13.4mm case clean. It is worn on a stainless steel bracelet.

The Air Command began in the 1950s as a chronograph Blancpain developed for the US Air Force, in the same era it supplied the Fifty Fathoms to military divers. Only a small number of the original Air Commands were ever made, which turned the watch into a collector's legend. Blancpain brought the name back in 2019, reviving the design for a modern audience. The flyback function at its heart was the reason it existed, letting a pilot reset and restart timing with a single push. This Monaco Yacht Show edition, limited to 150 pieces, gives that aviation tool a blue dial with a nod to the sea. It joins two sides of Blancpain's military history in a single watch.

We sourced it for the flyback. Mid-timing, one push sends the chronograph hand back to zero and straight back into motion, and on the F185 that action is crisp and immediate thanks to its column wheel and vertical clutch. It is a complication with a real job, not decoration. Then there is the blue dial, which takes a pilot's instrument and gives it the colour of the Riviera. Limited to 150 pieces, it is a watch you could wait years to see again. It carries one of the most storied names in Blancpain's history. Curated with intent.