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.

Beating at the heart of the new timepiece is the in-house 1153 automatic winding calibre, which offers an enviable power reserve of four days. The visual theme of the heart continues within the calibre, where an openworked white gold winding rotor forms a heart shape, as can be seen through the case back.

The Ladybird watch is the latest iteration of a line that made its debut back in 1956, the second such release since Blancpain introduced the Rolls in 1930. The collection was born of Blancpain’s commitment to offering women watches with the same levels of technical accomplishment as those traditionally aimed at men. The first Ladybird became the world’s smallest round women’s watch, and was the personal project of the company’s then CEO Betty Fiechter who joined in 1933.

Seasonality and colours come together with Blancpain’s elite craftsmanship in this collection. Last May, Blancpain introduced an array of red and white gold models, also with diamonds, in both time-only and moonphase options, for the Blancpain’s 1163 and 1163L calibres respectively. Summer 2023 saw a version of the Ladybird Colors where the numerals – normally single-coloured – take on the entire rainbow. Each numeral marker for that version was printed five or more times to achieve the necessary depth.

For 2024, the Ladybird collection now takes a form that honours her legacy and also connects with the most romantic day of the year.