Montblanc has long taken full advantage of the inherent beauty of its historic Minerva caliber MB 16.29 monopusher chronograph, displaying the movement’s fluidly interconnected bridges, plates and gears to great advantage through the back of multiple limited edition watches.
The new Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph.
With the new 1858 Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph, a 2022 debut highlight offered in a steel and a ‘lime’ gold case, Montblanc flips the movement over to display all its eye-catching curves and finishes directly on the dial side of the watch.
What might appear to be a skeletonized movement is actually the side of the caliber Montblanc has typically framed for the viewer in recent debuts via a clear sapphire caseback.
In order to reverse the caliber, Montblanc added twenty-one components while retaining the caliber’s familiar Minerva arrow and the V- shaped bridge. All the German silver components are intensely polished using Montblanc’s own special snailed diamantage coquille motif and methods. And echoing vintage movement design on display, Montblanc re-introduces a fluted bezel first seen in 1927 to frame the reversed caliber.
Montblanc fits both 1858 Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph models with an engraved caseback with an image of the firm’s Villeret manufacture and the v-shaped mountains in the background.
The Caliber MB M16.29 inside the new Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Secret watch.
Montblanc will issue two limited editions of eighteen and fifty-eight pieces, in Lime Gold and stainless steel respectively. The Lime Gold version comes with green hands and numerals and is attached to the wrist with a green alligator leather strap with grey stitching. The stainless-steel edition, with its white gold fluted bezel, comes with a blue alligator leather strap with blue stitching. Prices: $33,500 (steel) and $48,000 (lime gold).
Also new for Montblanc, as seen at Watches & Wonders 2022:
The Montblanc 1858 Minerva Monopusher Chronograph Red Arrow, a 42mm steel-cased column-wheel chronograph (with Caliber MB M13.21), a limited edition of 88. Price: $30,500.
The Montblanc 1858 GMT Automatic Date (above), a 42mm two-time-zone model. Price: Starting at $3,515 and up to $4,100 for model with personalized caseback.
The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date (above), a steel Montblanc dive model (the brand’s first) with special glacier-effect dial in green, black or blue. Stunning dial. Prices: $2,975 to $3,190.
The Montblanc 1958 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen, a Zero Oxygen 44mm titanium adventure watch. Price: $8,600, limited to 290 pieces.
We’ll show you more about these debuts in future posts.
Focusing on its vintage-styled 1858 collection, Montblanc in 2020 is adding artisanal blue dials to its 1858 Split Second Chronograph and one 1858 Geosphere world timer watch while also introducing an all-new one-hand, 24-hour watch and a bronze-cased 1858 Monopusher Chronograph.
Montblanc’s new 1858 Automatic 24H.
The Montblanc 1858 Automatic 24H is the newest design among the four debuts and displays the time using one hand to indicate time on a 24-hour scale. As one of the few Montblanc 24-hour watches available, the new 1858 Automatic 24H also serves another function: compass. (You may recall the 2018 Montblanc 1858 Pocket Watch Limited Edition 100, which also features a single 24-hour hand but includes additional chronograph timing hands – and a compass on its back.) Here, Montblanc has printed a compass scale in a beige ring on the outside of the dial, with markers for approximately every five degrees, and includes the cardinal points in red.
Up close on the dial of the new Montblanc 1858 Automatic 24H.
To use the hand as a compass (in the northern hemisphere) simply ensure the watch is correctly set and then hold it horizontal to the ground. Then rotate it until the tip of the hour hand is pointing towards the sun. In this position, all the cardinal points on the dial will be correctly aligned. North is located at ‘24h’ and South at ‘12h’.
As one of Montblanc’s ‘adventure’ themed models, the new watch is carefully color coded and heavy with SuperLuminova. Not only is the red-tipped single hand colored red, it is luminescent, as is the map of the Northern Hemisphere and twenty-four meridians on the black dial.
The 42mm automatic watch is cased in a new stainless steel case with a bronze bezel, creating the vintage look that marks the 1858 collection. On the back you will find a “Spirit of Mountain Exploration” engraving. At its $3,030 price, we expect the Montblanc 1858 Automatic 24H to compete directly with the other relatively few one-hand watches currently on the market.
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere, with new titanium case and gradient blue dial.
1858 Geosphere
Montblanc’s 1858 Geosphere, the brand’s worldtimer with quite distinctive turning, slightly domed globes at the top (Northern Hemisphere) and bottom (Southern Hemisphere) of its dial has been among the most impressive world time watches in its price range since its debut just a few years ago. Previously available with a steel case and in a bronze case, the 1858 Geosphere is now available with a lighter grade-5 titanium case, here combined with a blue dial and ‘icy’ white accents.
Still at 42mm in diameter, the 1858 Geosphere’s titanium case is topped with a fluted, bi-directional stainless steel bezel that Montblanc then further decorates with shiny blue ceramic bezel and four engraved luminescent directional markers.
The nicely illuminated dial of the new Montblanc 1858 Geosphere.
On the new 1858 Geosphere, the two domed globes are each surrounded by a fixed 24-timezone scale that includes a day/night blue indicator. A second time zone is indicated at nine o’clock and a date, linked to the local time, is at three o’clock.
For added ‘adventure’ effect, Montblanc marks the world’s Seven Summits and Mont Blanc on the turning globes with blue dots. They are also engraved on the caseback along with a drawing of Mont Blanc, a compass, and two crossed ice pick-axes. Price: With blue dial: $5,800 (on leather) and $6,200. Black dial with bracelet: $5,800.
Two Chronographs
Also for 2020, Montblanc adds two new versions of existing chronographs, both with unusual, high-end features and vintage designs.
One, the 1858 Split Second Chronograph Limited Edition 100, is the latest of Montblanc’s stunning reinterpretations of historical 44mm Minerva military monopusher chronographs from the 1930s with its distinctive snail tachymeter scale dial. This newest edition comes cased in (44mm) titanium and with a new, vibrant blue grand feu enamel gold dial.
The new Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph Limited Edition 100.
Inside Montblanc places its own manufacture monopusher chronograph caliber MB M16.31 that features two column wheels, horizontal coupling and a power reserve of fifty hours. The movement is beautifully designed to echo the original 1930s Minerva caliber 17.29. From the back you’ll see the same V- shape bridge as the original, along with a large balance wheel beating at the traditional frequency of 18,000 bph.
The new model continues the vintage aesthetic Montblanc nailed when this collection debuted in 2015. Echoing the collection, this new blue-dialed limited edition features a satin-finished case, polished lugs with beveled edges, a fluted crown and a domed sapphire crystal. Price: $36,000
1858 Monopusher Chronograph
Finally, Montblanc in 2020 adds to its 1858 Monopusher Chronograph collection with a new Limited Edition 1858 in a 42mm bronze case. Formerly only available in steel (and additionally within the Montblanc Heritage collection), the 1858 version of this monopusher chronograph adds a bit of adventure to the truly useful, vintage-inspired function by surrounding the black dial with a beige-railway track and a telemeter scale.
The Montblanc 1858 Monopusher Chronograph Limited Edition, with bronze case.
Echoing Minerva chronographs from the 1930s, the entire 1858 Chronograph line, including its two-pusher and mono-pusher models, is one of the brand’s highest-value designs.
Montblanc’s newest 1858 Monopusher Chronograph in a steel case with calfskin strap.
Here, Montblanc creates an in-house module that it pairs with a Sellita caliber to ensure that the monopusher function is available at an affordable price. As a monopusher, the watch’s start, stop and reset can be activated through a single pusher integrated into the crown.
The three newest Montblanc 1858 Monopusher Chronographs with bronze (left) and steel cases.
You’ll see beige-SuperLuminova numerals and rose-gold-coated, cathedral-shaped luminescent hands on the bronze and steel-cased 1858 Monopusher Chronographs. The bronze watch ($5,600) is available with an interesting new beige NATO strap. Two other unlimited models are available in stainless steel ($5,200), one of which comes with a new stainless steel bracelet made of a mix of link shapes, and a third set with an aged, cognac-colored calfskin strap.
The Montblanc 1858 Minerva Monopusher Chronograph Red Arrow, a 42mm steel-cased column-wheel chronograph (with Caliber MB M13.21), a limited edition of 88. Price: $30,500.
The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date (above), a steel Montblanc dive model (the brand’s first) with special glacier-effect dial in green, black or blue. Stunning dial. Prices: $2,975 to $3,190.
