Montblanc is certainly creating some news with the launch of their Metamorphosis II since Watches and Wonders 2014 in end Sep/early Oct. On 23 Oct, at the SIAR 2014, Montblanc has been awarded 2 awards for the Metamorphosis II ! More information on that later in another post with some pictures to share.
For now, I would like to share some more details of this watch. You may have seen the press release of this watch shared by Mike some weeks ago, as well as my reports and videos on this watch during Watches and Wonders 2014, shared on the PuristSPro Montblanc forum here.
Here are more details on the functions, the decoration and the movement of the watch. These details are kindly provided by Montblanc HQ so we PuristS who are interested in the deeper technical and decoration aspects of this super cool watch can read and appreciate them here.
In this picture below, you will see the 2 faces of the dial of the Metamorphosis II explained. As explained before, the Hours and Minutes hands are separated and the minutes have a retrograde function. On the classic face, the seconds hands is well, the seconds hands. On the chronograph face after the transformation, the seconds hand play a new role as the chronograph seconds hand.
I had previously shared a video on how the 2 dials work as well as the transformation process of the Metamorphosis II. This was covered in my Montblanc Watches and Wonders Part III report.
Next, let's look at the 8 different kinds of artisanal decorations on the 2 faces of the dial.
Very impressive indeed! I think this is the strength of the Metamorphosis II over the original Metamorphosis - with a more classical and traditional look and decoration. I love the guilloche details on the Montblanc Villeret watches such as on the Montblanc Villeret Seconde-au-centre-retour-zero.
But here, the craftsmen at Villeret brought the decoration to a whole new level with 8 different styles of decoration including several different guilloche styles from a “spiral” pattern to “Clous de Paris” to “Grain d’orge”. When I saw these in person under the light of the Montblanc booth at Watches and Wonders, I didn’t pay attention to the different guilloche and decoration patterns on the dial but I did recall how the dial played with light at different angles, giving it a lot of depth.
An overview of the movement the calibre MB 67.40 is shown below. The 746 components amaze me! As per all Montblanc Villeret movements, the balance wheel is a large and slow oscillator at 18,000 semi oscillations per hour. Finishing is as per the usual Montblanc Villeret standards when I saw the caliber MB 67.40 in Watches and Wonders. I took some macro shots and will share them soon (lighting wasn’t the best in the room with Florian but some of the macro shots showed the typical superb level of finishing that is now very much recognized in Montblanc Villeret watches).
And finally, the movement details. I love such a cross-sectional view of this super complex movement, that gives a glimpse of how the 746 parts work together! You can also see how the classic time dial works with the chronograph dial. Very complex movement architecture indeed.