Montblanc

Because of the time constraint and the light not so good please forgive me for the quality of the pictures.

During the 90 minutes private viewing I was able to have a look on the following timepieces:

Let’s start with the flagship of 2015 collection, Montblanc Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique Geospheres Vasco da Gama. The timepiece available was a prototype so I couldn’t play with it, the only totally functional one was on Mr. Lambert’s wrist. Despite its size (47mm, 15.6mm) the watch case looks smaller because of its clever design. The geospheres that symbolize the Northern and Southern hemispheres are made of gold, engraved and manually painted by a specialist in miniature painting. Two discs with 24 time zones simultaneously revolve around the two fix half-spheres.  The tourbillion’s bridge is curved and its finishing requires two weeks of painstaking work. On the back three gold chattons enhance the overall feeling of haute horlogerie at its best.  

Montblanc ExoTourbillon Chronograph

There are available two models, in white gold limited to 60 and in pink gold unlimited. The WG one has the upper part of the dial made of aventurine depicting the night sky of the Southern hemisphere. The demarcation line between the ExoTourbillion area and the upper part represents the horizon and one can imagine Vasco Da Gama on board of his ship gazing at the stars during his voyage.

When I saw the white gold one the day before, during the official presentation held at President Wilson Hotel, I was not so excited, the balance wheel seemed small and I should have preferred as base the manual MB R100 calibre. But after I checked it into detail I started changing my opinion. The automatic MB R200 is a modern monopusher chronograph with vertical clutch, column wheel and a double barrel. Being an ExoTourbillon the cage is separated from the balance wheel and your eyes can be tricked. 

A larger balance couldn’t be integrated because of two reasons:

- a higher inertia could hinder the stop seconds mechanism that actions directly on the balance wheel

- the size of the watch had been increased and entered the territory of Villeret collection

On the back the finishing is at the expected level and I liked Montblanc attention to details: rhodium plated and circular grained parts, Geneva stripes, etc. The rotor is made of gold, pink or white that matches the case. The designers didn’t make the same mistake like other manufactures putting a rotor made of steel that induces a feeling of cheap, on the contrary and especially on the pink gold model your eyes are warmed by the colour of the rotor and contrast between the rotor and the rest of the movement.

Now, please don’t expect the same quality as in Villeret movements, they play in different leagues. For instance the numerals, indexes and hands are only gold plated.

About the price...what can I say? The pink gold model is less than 40K (EURO, CHF?) and the white one less than 50K (EURO, CHF?). How they can have these prices it’s a mystery but this is good news for us, watch aficionados.

I couldn’t wait to put on my wrist the Montblanc Villeret 1858 ExoTourbillon Rattrapante. It’s a magnificent watch that I would like to wear it with its bespoke movement up, it’s a shame to hide such a masterpiece. The only drawback is the day and night indicator located at 5 o’clock that spoils the symmetry of the dial. Maybe a power reserve indicator located at 7 o’clock could correct it…

Another must try watch was Montblanc Timewalker 100 Chronograph. Montblanc went back in time again (in the 20’s) to revive the one hundred of a second chronograph. I like the contrast between the slow regulator (2.5Hz) and the fast one (50Hz) of the chronograph. The watch is light thanks to the advanced materials used for the case: titanium, carbon and ceramic. It sits properly on the wrist and activating the chronograph using the monopusher located at 12 o’clock the red hand makes one revolution per second. It’s a watch that demands you to play with; the red striking hand is hypnotising!

A nice surprise was the release of a LE3 of cufflinks dedicated to Vasco da Gama collection. Each PG cufflink has a small sphere that is hand painted, on one side is Vasco da Gama and on the other side his ship Sao Gabriel.

At present Montblanc has 2 collections comprising of about 47 models of cufflinks but none of them is related to any of the watch collections. I would like to see WG and PG cufflinks dedicated to Villeret collection, at least in my case I had to buy cufflinks from other manufacture and wear them with my Villeret Chronograph watch.

I didn’t take a picture of the Orbis Terrarum but the one in steel is my favourite. Montblanc did a good job, the worldtime module was not simply put on top of the base Selita 500, actually it was integrated so we can talk about a somehow worldtime integrated movement. This watch was the subject of a lot of talk and I don’t want to repeat what has been already said.

Conclusion:

Although the Montblanc Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique Geospheres Vasco da Gama was the star of the show for me Montblanc ExoTourbillon Chronograph is more important because it shows Montblanc vision of blending the Villeret know-how with Le Locle new movements. It started last year with Timewalker Chronograph 100 and we know what to expect in the coming years. Year by year Montblanc watch collection diversifies, more complications are added and this is a sign that Montblanc is on the right track.

Regards,

Constantin

PS:

1. I would like to thank to Montblanc Dubai Mall Boutique for the invitation and especially to Mrs. Bernadette Aguilar who accompanied us during the trip to Geneve.

2. The prices mentioned were valid during the SIHH.