Nearly a century ago a woman took the helm of a Swiss watch manufacture for the first time. Importantly, she approached women’s watches as a category in their own right. That woman was Betty Fiechter – the first female CEO of a watch brand – and in 1933, when she stepped in to lead Blancpain following the death of its last family owner, she set in motion a lineage of women’s watchmaking that continues to define the Maison to this day. Her influence continues to shimmer in the two new Ladybird Colors releases for 2026:  Diamond Bloom and Nude Moka. Both are testament to the enduring influence of the visionary leader.

Fiechter’s enduring contribution to Blancpain, the Ladybird, launched in 1956. It was home to the smallest round mechanical movement ever produced – the R-52 calibre at just 11.85mm in diameter – in a minimalist case with the crown discreetly positioned on the back. In an era when women’s watches were still treated mainly as decorative, this was a a much needed evolution. The Ladybird’s fame spread far and fast. among those drawn to Blancpain’s creations of that period was Marilyn Monroe, who wore a diamond-encrusted platinum cocktail watch produced during the period that Fiechter led Blancpan. That piece was set with 71 round-cut diamonds and two marquise stones and was later acquired by Blancpain at auction and exhibited at its New York flagship and remains one of the most compelling artefacts in the brand’s history. There is also a subtler tribute to Monroe embedded in every Blancpain moon phase watch ever since: the feminine face on the moon display bears a beauty mark on her left cheek anod to the Hollywood icon. On the new Ladybird Colors releases, that same face appears drifting across a star-scattered sky.

Blancpain Ladybird Colors Diamond Bloom

The Diamond Bloom is one of the most technically ambitious women watches that Blancpain has produced. It arrives in two versions – white gold and red gold. The case, bezel, dial, and even the crown are snowset with 919 diamonds totalling 4.794 carats, one of the most demanding approaches in gem-setting, in which stones of varying sizes are positioned with apparent spontaneity, delivering a sparkle of light scattered across the surface.

Blancpain Ladybird Colors Diamond Bloom

At the crown, a rose-cut diamond sits in place and the dial is nacre perlée, an extremely rare category of mother-of-pearl, sourced only from the most curved central section of specific cultured shells. Each shell yields at most two dials. The material represents less than 2% of usable mother-of-pearl from any given shell, and each disc displays a unique pattern of shifting greens and pinks depending on the  angle of light. With snow-setting coverign the centre of the dial in 222 additional diamonds, Blancpain has put the brand logo directly onto the sapphire crystal and it appears to almost float above the dial.

Roman numerals are painted in coordinating tones: glacier blue for the white-gold version, violet for the red gold. The openworked sage  leaf-shaped hands are a Ladybird Colors signature andindicate hours and minutes. Inside, calibre 1163L runs automatically with a 100-hour power reserve, and the movement is visible through a sapphire caseback finished in Geneva stripes. The 34.9mm case is slim at 10.43mm. It comes with interchangeable alligator straps – glacier blue and midnight blue for white gold; white and royal purple for red gold.

Ladybird Colors – Nude Moka Second Skin

Where Diamond Bloom is more of a sparkling statement, Nude Moka offers a more sublte interpretation of Blancpain’s watchmaking for women. Each year Blancpain adds one new shade to the Ladybird Colors palette, and for 2026 that shade is a warm tone inspired by leather, cashmere, and raw wool.. On the alligator strap it reveals warmth courtesy of the matching  Roman numerals in two tones, lighter at centre, deeper at the periphery, creating a sense of depth.

The nacre perlée dial  carries the same shifting greens and pinks found in Diamond Bloom, and the same feminine moon phase face completes the complication alongside small seconds at six o’clock. Calibre 1163L powers both delivering a four-date reserve. Two versions are available: a standard edition with two interlaced circles of 70 diamonds on the dial, and a snow-set variant limited to 15 pieces, that adds 152 diamonds across the dial centre in a  fluid shimmering surface. The non-snow-set version carries over 2 carats of diamonds across bezel, lugs, crown, and buckle; the snow-set version has more than 2.4 carats. Cases are in 18ct red gold throughout.

What unites Diamond Bloom and Nude Moka beyond shared architecture, shared movement, and nacre perlée is the intention behind them. Betty Fiechter did not make women’s watches as a commercial afterthought. She made them as the proof of what a manufacture could do when it applied its horological capability to a different wrist. The Ladybird Colors collection is, 70 years on, the continuation of that story, a timepiece for a woman who appreciates the deeper meaning behind what she chooses to wear.

Tech Specs: Ladybird Colors Diamond Bloom

References 3662A 9696 99A (Glacier blue); 3662O 9496 99 (Royal purple)
Movement Blancpain Manufacture Calibre 1163L; Automatic winding
Functions Hours, minutes, small seconds; moonphase; 100 hours (~4 days) power reserve
Case 18K red or white gold case; sapphire crystal caseback; water resistance 3 bar (30 meters)
Dial Nacre perlée dial with signature sage leaf-shaped hands; royal purple or glacier blue roman numerals (in two shades)
Strap Interchangeable alligator leather with pin buckle
Price CHF 107,000

Tech Specs: Ladybird Colors Nude Moka

References 3662A 2996 55B (snow-set version, folding clasp); 3662F 2954 55A (snow-set-free version, pin buckle); 3662F 2954 55B (snow-set-free version, folding clasp)
Movement Blancpain Manufacture Calibre 1163L; automatic winding
Functions Hours, minutes, small seconds; moonphase; 100 hours (~4 days) power reserve
Case 18 ct red gold case; sapphire crystal caseback; water resistance 3 ATM (30 meters)
Dial Nacre perlée, with or without snow setting; signature openwork sage leaf-shaped hands; Mocha Roman numerals in two tones
Strap Nude Moka alligator leather with pin buckle or folding clasp
Limited Edition Snow-set version – limited to 15 pieces; Snow-set-free version – not limited
Price For the snow-set version, CHF 39,100; For the snow-set-free version, CHF 32,100 with folding clasp and CHF 30,500 with pin buckle