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Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph "On-the-Wrist" Review

Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph "On-the-Wrist" Review

by Ed Woo, Ming Woo, Anthony Tsai

© December 2008

After returning from a Swiss Manufacture tour in early October, DRMW and I were presented with an opportunity to test out a new variation of the Montblanc Timewalker Chronograph.  I'm somewhat familiar with Montblanc pens, but never really considered Montblanc's watch line until I read the recent PuristSPro reviews on the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec and Montblanc Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses .

We met up with Anthony for dinner at Beso Restaurant in Hollywood.  While waiting for other guests to arrive, we sat at the bar and checked out a pair of Montblanc TimeWalker Chronographs.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that we would be evaluating the latest version with black ceramic bezel and crown which debuted at SIHH 2008.  Both watches are in stainless steel with one on a strap and the other with an interesting metal bracelet with alternating black ceramic center links.  I chose the strap version because it would match my suit and tie that I wear to work everyday.

Initial Impressions:
The watch came packaged in a thick black cardboard box similar to Montblanc's pen collection.  I normally don't care about the boxes, but I felt the quality of the box wasn't on par with the watch.  The box felt rather inexpensive for a watch of this price tag ($5,900 on strap and $6,900 on bracelet - retail prices in USD).  I was expecting some type of wood case or at least something made of leather.

Overall, the watch looked sporty and simple.  The 43mm case was not too large and sat comfortably on my wrist.  I tried it on a few times but since the restaurant was fairly dark, I left it in the box and waited until I went home to examine it in further detail. 


Thorough Dissection of the Watch:
The TimeWalker Chronograph incorporates a simple looking standard chronograph layout.  The subdial at the 3 o'clock position displays the chronograph seconds, the 6 o'clock subdial displays the chronograph hour with ½ hour ticks, and the 9 o'clock subdial displays the time seconds.  A small date window is positioned between 4 and 5, as shown in the below picture.

All hands, including the chronograph subdial hands, hour markers, and the perimeter of the chronograph subdials are polish-finished.  The design of the hands and font of the arabic hour markers provide futuristic and modern look. 

The dial has a flat black color without any patterns.  At some angles, it is difficult to read because the hour markers are polished and very slim.  In direct sunlight, the markers become washed out, like many other watches with polished applied numerals resulting in an all-black dial.

At night time, the watch was somewhat readable.  There is not much glow on the hands since the luminous markers are thin lines. The subdial chronograph hands and dot markers for the hours were not that legible as well, as you can see in the picture below. 

I tried to brighten the luminova up to its maximum intensity by hitting it with my Surefire L7 LumaMax LED flashlight and was able to capture the below image. Now, the watch is legible in the dark!

The Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph case measures 43mm wide and 14.5mm thick, which is fairly large for me, but has brilliantly wonderful designed lugs that angle downward.  They are placed low on the case enabling the watch to sit very comfortably on my small 6.5" wrist.  With the shape and placement of the lugs, I really would like to give kudos to the Montblanc design team! 

With the heft of the TimeWalker, the case feels nice and solid.  If you look at the picture above, you will notice that the case has a hint of 'marine organic' in its design, and the 43mm case is polish-finished throughout but bead blasted finished in the area inside the lugs. This same contrast appears in the Montblanc star shaped lug screws.

The sapphire crystal is slightly domed and blends in with the angled black ceramic bezel which gives the case a rounded ergonomic look.  Going back to the picture above, the shape of the case reminds me of those stones that you push in the Winter Olympic sport called Curling.  The sapphire crystal also has a anti-glare coating with a greenish tint which I've never seen before.  All my other watches have bluish/purple colored anti-glare coatings.  The green glare is apparent at various angles when light is reflecting off the crystal as shown in the picture below (note the greenish tint on the left side of crystal).

The date is not set using the crown but with the quick-set date pusher at the 10 o'clock position. 

In the picture below, one notices the black color of the ceramic bezel with a slight tinge of grey.  Besides the bezel, the crown is also made of ceramic and capped with the signature Montblanc white star logo.  The textured crown has a nice checkered pattern which provides an easy grip to wind and set the watch, and the non screw-down crown has an O-ring for water resistance. The chronograph pushers are stainless steel which depress with a solid click.  They exhibited no problems when activated.

Flipping the watch over, the TimeWalker Chronograph is built with a screw down sapphire crystal caseback where you can easily view the Montblanc 4810/502 movement (which is based on a 27 jewel 28,000 vph ETA-Valjoux 7750) as shown in the picture below.  Water resistance of the case is rated to 30 meters, and the rotor is extremely efficient.  It spins very freely which is a typical trait of the Valjoux 7750.

The watch was fitted with a short black alligator strap and tang buckle; I was able to use the second hole closest to the lug.  The strap is fairly thick (measures 4mm thick) but conformed nicely around my wrist.  With large watches, I find thicker straps improve wearability and comfort, and I'm glad Montblanc did not overlook this small but very important and often overlooked detail. 

One issue I have with the buckle is the moderately flat profile.  It sticks out and up from the strap.  Using the second hole, the buckle points away from the strap and would sometimes hang up on my sleeves.  It's even worse when wearing a sportcoat.  My suggestion to Montblanc would be to re-design this tang buckle so it's slightly more curved.  For those with larger wrists, the flat profile of the buckle shouldn't be a problem since the buckle position will be more towards the center of your wrists, so those with at least 6.75" wrists shouldn't experience this same problem.

On a positive note, the buckle is skeletonized on the sides and is a distinctive design element that is carried over from the lugs.  The skeletonization of the buckle is also large enough to facilitate easy cleaning should dirt or debris collect in this area.

The screws that attach the strap and buckle have a unique Montblanc signature star pattern.  I really like this detail, however it may be difficult to change straps without a special tool since the star shaped screws cannot be removed using standard hex/allen head drivers or standard screwdrivers.  Furthermore, no special tool is included with the watch, so one must make a visit to a Montblanc AD or Boutique in order to change straps.

The quality of the alligator leather used in the strap is superb and feels much better than most alligator straps from other brands.  Construction of the strap is the more expensive, rolled-edge strap construction.  One thing though, only after strapping on the watch 5 or 6 times, I noticed some problems developing with the tail end of the strap.  The black alligator top layer began to peel off from the side, and it looks like the strap is only glued to the sides.  Since this is a brand-new strap installed at a Montblanc Boutique, I am disappointed in the strap construction quality.

The layer separation is clearly visible in the picture above.  This is extremely disappointing given the retail price of the watch.  Since this is an existing production strap, I would recommend better engineering of the construction of the strap or completely switching over to a different type.  Over the past month, two separate areas of the top layer (where the buckle touches the strap when strapped on the wrist) started to peel away from the strap.  

Now let's examine the bracelet.  I had to adjust the bracelet to my wrist size.  The bracelet itself is easy to adjust to size by tapping out the pins.  With all the links removed, it can accommodate as small as a 6 inch wrist.  

Upon close inspection, the design of the stainless steel and ceramic bracelet reveals no sharp or protruding edges.  The ceramic middle links are solid while the steel links are hollow, and the color of the ceramic is a nice dark blackish grey evenly applied to all the links.  This metal bracelet reminds me of a bicycle chain.  Overall, a very beautiful looking and comfortable bracelet.   

The butterfly folding deployant is very secure and did not inadvertently pop open while on the wrist.  Some deployants require you to snap on one side first before snapping the other side close, but this one isn't of that design.  Snap in any order you wish.  

Though ceramic is known for its scratch-resistance (better than PVD - physical vapor deposition , it is important to place them at areas which are most vulnerable to scratches such as the bezel, bracelet and the buckle area.  It was surprising to see the 4 middle links where the deployant secures are in steel instead of ceramic as this area is typically the worst scratched area where the buckle area is facing downwards.

The use of ceramic in watches seems to be very popular in recent years.  On my sample, the bezel was made with black ceramic and there were no visible flaws.  During my trip to the Middle East (more on this below), I had accidentally bumped it a few times against my luggage and overhead bins on the airplane  We even dropped it in the hot desert sand.  In all cases, the ceramic finish held up extremely well, and it still looks brand new with no scratches at all.

Field Testing:
This was the fun part - taking the Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph around the world for field testing.  Within 48 hours of wearing the watch, I headed to Las Vegas for two slot tournaments.  It was Halloween weekend, and we were invited to the Bare Bones slot tournament on Treasure Island.  There's not much skill involved, just trying to hit the button as fast as possible.

The second slot tournament was held at the Hilton.  DRMW brought along his TimeWalker with bracelet, and we field tested it together.  This was a great test of the durability of the ceramic.

Each session is 15 minutes with the buckle and bracelet constantly coming into contact with the metal parts of the slot machine, but the ceramic impressively held up to the rigorous bashing.  No scratches or dents were noted, and the TimeWalker survived without any problems.

We got to play 3 sessions but didn't win the big jackpot.  Oh well, maybe next time...

The next weekend, we joined fellow Purists from around the world for the GTG in Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.  This was my first trip to the Middle East.  Our first stop was in Kuwait City, and we had some really nice views of the Kuwait Towers:

A few days later, we took a short flight over to Dubai where we all spent the remainder of the week (including a drive over to Abu Dhabi).  This was the best part of the trip, SALMANQ8 organized a desert dune bashing trip. Our ride was like a roller coaster as he told the driver to be as aggressive as possible with the driving!

See the Timeout forum post by DRMW:  click here

I knew that we were going to have a rough bumpy ride.  So when I climbed into the Toyota Land Cruiser, I spent a few minutes trying to figure out a way to strap the watch onto the car.  Dr. Bernard Cheong's RAV4 wheel/rim post came to mind (click here ) but I'm sure the sand would have totally destroyed the watch.  So when DRMW was distracted playing with the camels and monkeys (I mean literally), I took his bracelet watch and wrapped it around the Toyota badge for the ultimate shock test.

As we split up into two cars, I ended up strapping my TimeWalker Chronograph on leather strap to the roll cage bar inside the car at the roof.

Here's a pic (courtesy of JerryW).  You can see the horizon in the distance, with our SUV tilted 45 degrees to the right, while the other SUV bounces over the dunes tilted to the left. With our speed and angles, I'm surprised we didn't have any roll over crashes.  Luckily, we were very fortunate to have very experienced drivers.

And below is a video of us dune bashing.  At times, our Toyota Landcruiser was bouncing up and down at 52 mph!  I'm happy to report that both Montblanc TimeWalker Chronographs passed the shock bounce test with flying colors.     

Afterwards, we had an opportunity to place the two watches in the sand for a photo op.  A sand storm kicked up, and the TimeWalkers were quickly completely covered with the abrasive Dubai sand.  Once again the ceramic held up without any visible scratches.

Accuracy:
I wore the watch almost on a daily basis.  Using my laptop computer clock, I timed it for a three week period.  My TimeWalker gained an average of 5 seconds per day, with some days as much as +8 seconds.  Interestingly enough, DRMW's watch only had -1 or 0 second/day variation and was pretty much spot on compared with the computer clock.

Conclusion:
The black ceramic has proven to be very durable in our field tests, and the main criticism is with the alligator strap and straight buckle which should be easily remedied.  At where the TimeWalker Ceramic Chronograph is priced, it faces stiff competition from the already crowded sports watch segment.  However, it may be the only watch in its segment which has both a ceramic bezel and crown.

Overall, the Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph is a versatile watch.  It has a clean layout dial, size is proportional, looks great on the wrist, and is comfortable.  It also looks sublime paired with a suit and tie or in casual clothing, and you have the option of strap or bracelet version for the ultimate versatility.  A watch to consider if you're looking for both a dressy and sporty watch.

Additional Pictures:

This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2008-12-08 12:54:14

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