Heritage Chronométrie Collection Exhibition

For over 100 years, Montblanc has embraced the traditions of lasting value and exquisite craftsmanship. The company’s uncompromising principles of design, style, quality and workmanship have allowed them to create heirloom collections that are passed from generation to generation. The iconic Montblanc emblem is a symbol of excellence.

From 1st to 30th September, Montblanc will present its latest Heritage Chronométrie collection timepieces at the Oriental Watch flagship store in Central QRC100. The collection includes timepieces that were inspired by the great Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. One of the timepieces, the Montblanc Collection Villeret – Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama, which is limited to 18 pieces worldwide, is the one you cannot miss.

Date: September 1 – 30, 2015

Address: Oriental Watch, 100 Queen’s Road Central, Central, HK

Enquiry: (852) 3470 0009

Montblanc Collection Villeret – Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama

For many years, Montblanc and its Manufacture in Villeret have presented unique timepieces that express the comprehensive skills of the artisans at this time-honoured Manufacture. Now the developers and watchmakers have once again employed all their expertise to create a wristwatch that is quite literally the ticking “flagship” of the new Montblanc Vasco da Gama watch collection. It was Vasco da Gama’s urge to discover new worlds and his unwavering courage that inspired Montblanc and spurred the Manufacture’s watchmakers to achieve superlative horological feats.

Far more than merely a complicated wristwatch, the Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama also performs an unconventional horological performance. The 47-mm-diameter case surrounds a three-dimensional dial that positively invites admiring scrutiny. The 288 components that comprise hand-wound tourbillon Calibre MB M68.40 support numerous functions in an unprecedented combination: a triple time zone with local time is displayed in the form of hours and minutes; the continually running and independently adjustable display for the home time is presented on a three-dimensional twelve-hour compass rose at “6 o’clock”; and a pair of globes depict the World´s 24 time zones in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, along with the passage of the days and nights. Engraving and miniature painting on these two halved balls indicate in relief the outlines of the continents, their borders and the oceans that separate them. The passage of time accordingly becomes an impressive and daily recurring spectacle on the wearer’s wrist and recalls the sea route through the Earth’s two hemispheres that Vasco da Gama sailed in 1497.

Ident. no. 111675

Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph

As an horological highlight in the Heritage Chronometrie Collection, Montblanc’s new ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph combines two of the most important chronometric complications: a chronograph to measure the duration of brief intervals and a patented tourbillon construction for absolute precision.

Montblanc debuted the patented ExoTourbillon mechanism, which was completely developed and built in the Manufacture in Villeret, as part of the Collection Villeret in 2010. Five years later, Montblanc returns to this complication to integrate it into Montblanc’s own monopusher automatic chronograph calibre in the Heritage Chronométrie Collection.

With this patented ExoTourbillon construction, Montblanc offers for the first time a stop-second function that directly halts the screw balance by means of a tiny spring. Such a construction rarely accompanies a tourbillon and is very useful whenever the wearer wishes to precisely set not only the hour- and minute-, but also the second-hand. Directly halting the balance in a tourbillon is a more precise construction than arresting the second-hand by halting the rotation of the tourbillon’s cage because the former instantly stops the balance and prevents the “after-swing” that can occur when the tourbillon’s cage is stopped. In order to precisely adjust the time, the tourbillon cage integrates a red marker in form of an arrow, which allows to read the seconds on the respective scale printed on the opening of the dial around the tourbillon.

Different from the other models in the Heritage Chronométrie Collection, the Montblanc ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph relies on a slightly different case construction. The bezel is not flat, but concave, which creates an attractive aesthetic effect and simultaneously protects the bezel against scratches. The facetted horns are satin-finished on the inside and polished on the outside. Montblanc’s emblem, crafted as a distinctive relief atop the crown is a distinguishing feature of the entire collection. The leather strap is made at the Montblanc Pelletteria, the Maison’s own leather manufacture in Florence, Italy. This timepiece is available in a 44-mm-diameter case crafted from 18K red gold.

Ident. no. 112542

Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Quantième Annuel Vasco da Gama

This timepiece offers a full calendar. The anomalies of the Gregorian calendar ordinarily mean that a watch’s owner must occasionally reset the date, month and day of the week on his watch’s calendar, but this timepiece makes that intervention unnecessary for an entire year. The annual calendar mechanism, which francophone watchmakers call a “Quantième Annuel”, automatically “knows” the lengths of all months from March to January. The watch asks for special attention only on the last midnight in February. A manual correction is needed for the switch from the 28th or 29th of February to the 1st of March. This is easily accomplished with extracting and turning the crown. On all other days of the year, the watch provides accurate calendrical information via four subdials: one for the day (at “9 o’clock”), another for the month (at “12 o’clock”), a third for the date (at “3 o’clock”) and a fourth for the moon-phase display (at 6 o’clock). The last-mentioned indicator is embedded in a depiction of the starry firmament in the Southern Hemisphere. The Southern Cross is readily visible, especially the delicate reddish colour of the star named Gamma in this distinctive constellation. If one looks closely, one can also see the Cross’s other three stars Alpha, Beta and Delta, along with other stars as they appeared to the Portuguese seafarers in 1497. To display the phases of the moon, the beautiful blue-lacquered constellation holds an aperture for a golden turning disc below featuring the moon in the night sky. Montblanc took great pains to emulate the heavens with the utmost fidelity. The annual calendar mechanism is encased in a 40-mm-diameter case that rises a mere 9.5 mm from back to front. The silvery white dial has a sunburst pattern; the gold-plated facetted indexes and the numeral “12” are applied to the dial. Two facetted gold-plated sword-shaped hands indicate the hours and minutes. The hands for the calendrical display are blued, thus harmonizing with the dark blue colour of the miniature firmament. The Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Quantième Annuel Vasco da Gama is naturally affiliated with Vasco da Gama’s floating flagship, the São Gabriel. A sketch of the historic sailing vessel is engraved on the pane of sapphire crystal in the case back, as is the signature of the intrepid discoverer and seafarer. The series is limited to 238 watches as an allusion to the “Cape Point Peak” lighthouse, which was built at precisely 238 meters above sea level at the Cape of Good Hope. Vasco da Gama sailed around this cape in the last days of November, 1497. It served as an additional distinctive geographic point of orientation on the seaway to India. Montblanc’s emblem, crafted as a distinctive relief atop the crown, is a distinguishing feature of the entire collection. The leather strap is made at the Montblanc Pelletteria, the Maison’s own leather manufacture in Florence, Italy.

Ident. no. 112537

Montblanc Bohème Moongarden

In a sophisticated integration of the moonphase, the name is displayed in a crescent shape window in the centre and the moonphases appear in an aperture at “6 o’clock”. The function of this exclusive manufacture complication can easily be adjusted using the individual corrector on the side of the 36 mm red gold case. The name of the current moon must be placed at 12 o’clock in front the little golden moon, linking the name of the moon to the date. Then like on a calendar, when the date reaches 31, the name of the moon changes as it enters its new phase. From Ice Moon to Oak Moon, the name of each of the twelve moon phases are engraved in a circular fashion on the back of the watch to facilitate the setting and the choice of the moons.

The 18K red gold bezel is set with 78 fine Wesselton diamonds, giving the watch absolute radiance. The feminine and sensuous floral Arabic numerals with a prominent “12” are set on a sophisticated silvery-white «guilloché» dial with 90 facets, a refined setting for the 18K red gold-plated hands in leaf shape. The minuterie scale with discrete and precious filet sauté is enhanced with gold plated dots for an added touch of refinement, while the elegant case is embellished with a crown set with a scintillating Montblanc diamond.