George R. R. Martin’s “In the Lost Lands” stars one of Blancpain’s most complicated watches
Zach BlassWatches and cinema have long had a significant relationship, with Hamilton being the record holder for the most horological cameos in film. Omega’s partnership with the James Bond 007 franchise is another strong example. Last week, Blancpain was at the centre of the In the Lost Lands movie premiere in Santa Fe, New Mexico due to its Villeret Minute Repeater Carousel Flyback Chronograph having a prominent role in the film. Like Hamilton in all of its film partnerships, Blancpain did not pay a cent to be placed in In the Lost Lands, which is based on a short story written by Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista. If anything, it auditioned and scored the part as any actor would need to do.
“Jeremy Bolt, one of my producing partners, is an über watch aficionado,” Anderson explained. “The watch was an important part of the script. And he said, ‘What do you have in mind?’ And in the movie, it’s a long lost relic of the old world – almost mythical. It’s like a legendary magical artifact. Dave Bautista has a great line where Milla’s trying to bribe him with the watch. And he says, ‘I’ve heard of these, but I’ve never seen one,’ which lets you know how rare it is. So we needed something that looked extraordinary.”
“Jeremy presented what he felt were like the top ten possibilities for the watch, and I went ‘that one’. And he’s like, ‘Really?’ because he knew it was the most expensive. He was hoping I was going to go for one of the cheaper options. I think he shuffled it towards the back of the pile, hoping I wouldn’t choose it anyway. I just felt the Blancpain looked like that magical artifact. It looked so special.”
The film’s lead actor Milla Jovovich, who met Anderson while creating the Resident Evil franchise, joked that the watch was treated better than any actor on set, describing its care as “first class”, always carried around on a velvet tray, and never too far away from a microfibre cloth. But as Anderson mentioned, this is a very, very expensive watch, one that logistically speaking would seem like a massive, undesirable burden on the set of an action film full of fights, flames, and explosions. The Villeret Minute Repeater Carousel Flyback Chronograph is arguably the brand’s most complicated watch, with a retail price that reflects that status at US$503,800. Despite the hefty price tag and the responsibility that comes with it, Paul was on a mission to have the watch do its own stunt at the film’s climax.
“The watch was very well taken care of, and had a security guard of sorts that came with it to protect it and make sure it looked really nice. But slowly, I kind of slowly worked on the guy who brought the watch,” Anderson explained. “I didn’t know if he’d ever been on a movie set before, and you know, they’re quite dirty places, so he was a little horrified about placing the watch in all of this chaos and skulls and dirt and ash. At the very end of the movie, there’s an earth-tremor, and the watch has to slide off this pile of skulls and fall on the ground. The gentleman from Blancpain was like, ‘We can’t do that with the watch, you have to use the stunt watch.’ The stunt watch that looked a bit like the real watch, but it didn’t really. So I was trying to convince them that it’s another lead in the movie. ‘It’s like the Tom Cruise of watches – and, you know, Tom Cruise does his own stunts!'”
Despite Blancpain’s representative saying “no” throughout the day, Anderson’s persistence paid off when they finally got to the shot. So a watch worth over half a million dollars did its equivalent of a swan dive off a cliff – safely landing on a velvet cushion to break its fall. Who said dressy high-comps are not robust?
This impressive 45mm red gold case houses a beautifully finished and engraved in-house movement which boasts a minute repeater, one-minute flying tourbillon, and a flyback chronograph that can track up to 30 minutes of elapsed time. To allow for a better view of the movement on the front side, the centre of the white grand feu enamel dial is left exposed, and in place of a traditional chronograph register, Blancpain designed the calibre to have an uncommon central 30-minute counter. Beneath the central chronograph seconds hand is a smaller, red-tipped hand that corresponds to the 30-minute scale seen on the inner perimeter of the chapter ring, preserving the symmetry and beauty of the dial.
Keep in mind, this watch was first introduced at Baselworld in 2013, and despite its many complications, has a near-weekend-proof power reserve. It was incredibly high-tech for its time – and still is by today’s standards, over a decade later.
View this post on Instagram
You can see this watch in In the Lost Lands in theatres now, or head to your nearest Blancpain boutique to find out more.