Style Edit: Blancpain unveils new Ladybird Saint-Valentin for Valentine’s Day – the most romantic of watchmakers releases new models every year for lovers the world over

With a history dating back to 1735, Swiss luxury watchmaker Blancpain is the world’s oldest timepiece brand, helping to make it also one of the world’s most prestigious watchmakers. This constancy has made Blancpain the choice of incurable romantics, particularly over the past few decades.

That’s because the venerable manufacture has been turning its hand to the production of watches specifically associated with love, created to celebrate the most romantic time of the year: Valentine’s Day. Blancpain has released a limited-edition timepiece – the Leman Flyback Chronograph – to mark the occasion every year since 2001.

It also introduced the Saint-Valentin series of timepieces in 2003, with these seasonal watches featuring a specific Valentine’s theme, with a small seconds indication featuring a heart pierced by Cupid’s arrow.

Since then, a series of watches have highlighted the heart and other romantic motifs in a dazzling variety of styles on their dials and cases. They have ranged from the subtle to the spectacular – such as 2009’s dramatic heart-shaped case or 2019’s cocktail watch with a rectangular art deco case inspired by former prolific Blancpain patron Marilyn Monroe.

This year, the Valentine’s Day editions have been joined by a timepiece inspired by another much loved line within the Blancpain collection: Ladybird Colors. The new watch, which comes in a limited edition of 99, showcases the most romantic of colours – red – with a dial that contrasts mother of pearl with red roman numerals, added using a painstaking process that involves five applications of colour.

A diamond-set gold ring on the dial characterises the Ladybird collection, and here it’s been continued and embellished at 6 o’clock, with a swirl of diamonds in the shape of a heart. Cupid’s arrow again appears on the dial, in the form of a large seconds hand that supports a small red heart and a feather-shaped counterweight. In addition to the heart and the ring on the dial, diamonds also form another ring around the timepiece’s bezel, extending out onto its lugs; and they also appear on its buckle. The whole package is contained with a 34.9mm white gold case.