New Blancpain Villeret Ultraplate 38mm | Hands On

Today, Blancpain debuts new Villeret Ultraplate models in a new 38mm size – one of which hosts the collection's first-ever salmon dial. The Villeret has always been Blancpain's quietest flex. No oversized case demanding your attention. No complication crammed in to justify the price. Just ultra-thin, impeccably finished, and utterly sure of itself. And now, in 38mm, it's available to more wrists than ever.

Here's why size matters. The Villeret Ultraplate at 40mm was already a masterclass in restraint. At 38mm, it becomes something else entirely: genuinely wearable for more wrists, more wardrobes, more occasions. This is Blancpain understanding that the right size isn't a trend — it's a service.

The headline new reference pairs a sunburst salmon dial — a first for the entire Villeret collection — with black-treated 18ct gold Roman numerals and an anthracite nubuck strap. Salmon in 2026 is having a moment, but Villeret isn't chasing it. This dial shifts between copper, rose, and gold depending on the light. It's a mood, not a marketing move.

Then there's the boutique-exclusive. Steel case, solid yellow gold numerals, gold-toned opaline dial, olive-green nubuck strap. Steel and gold done with enough tension between the two that it doesn't read as safe — it reads as considered. The kind of watch a serious collector spots across the room first.

Both references carry the manufacture calibre 1150 — silicon hairspring, 100-hour power reserve, open-worked oscillating weight visible through the sapphire caseback. Haute Horlogerie finishing throughout. At just 8.35mm thick, it disappears under a shirt cuff in the best possible way.

The aesthetic updates introduced across Villeret last autumn carry over too: solid 18ct gold Roman numerals with satin-finished tops and polished bevels, the JB monogram replacing the traditional XII, and slender Super-LumiNova hands for low-light readability. Every detail resized and rebalanced for the smaller case. Nothing arbitrary. Nothing wasted.

Blancpain's Villeret story starts in 1983 — when the rest of Swiss watchmaking was pivoting to quartz, they went the other way. That conviction never left. The 38mm chapter is its most logical, most confident extension yet.