The aesthetes's CHOICE
MONTBLANC MODELS INSPIRED BY THE AERODYNAMIC LINES OF CLASSIC CARS
While boasting over a century in creating writing instruments, Montblanc has only been in haute horlorogie for two decades following the establishment of its watch department in 1997.
Nonetheless, its expertise comes from the acquisition of Minerva, whose watchmaking tradition began in 1858 at Villeret in Switzerland’s Saint-Imier Valley.
Minerva’s heritage in mechanical timing instruments include the Rally Timer stopwatch to time motor racing, whose spirit is now captured by Montblanc TimeWalker.
The latest 2017 models defined as professional watches were launched on Monday evening at Siam Paragon’s Hall of Fame.
The vintage-themed aesthetics echo throughout the case, dial and even strap, whose holes pay tribute to leather racing gloves.
Satinated cases and semi-skeletonised horns with architecturally carved flanks are inspired by aerodynamic lines of classic cars’ bodywork.
Knurled finishing on the bezel’s flank, as well as on crowns and pushers are reminiscent of a petrol tank cap on vintage racing cars.
The dial’s three-dimensional counters recall vintage dashboards while the smoked glass case back evokes glass windows that cover powerful V12 engines.
The new collection’s boldest piece, TimeWalker Chronograph UTC combines a chronograph with dual-time complications that can actually display time in three different time zones.
The 43mm case with a mix of high-tech materials — such as black DLC, high-tech black ceramic and black rubber — gives it a masculine and sporty look.
The unidirectional rotating black bezel is made of robust ceramic, knurled on the flank for a better grip while having a silvery-white engraved 24-hour scale for greater legibility and functionality.
On its black face, the chronograph hours are displayed in a subdial at 6 o’clock, and the 30-minute chronograph counter at 12 o’clock. The chronograph seconds are indicated via the red central hand with an arrow-shaped tip.
A similar display appears on the dial of the 43mm TimeWalker Chronograph Automatic, whose variations come in stainless steel and red gold.
The collection also include the smaller 41mm TimeWalker Automatic Date in stainless steel. Indications include hours, minutes and seconds and a date in an aperture at 3 o’clock.
The dial with its scale from five to
60 is clearly reminiscent of Minerva’s stopwatch dials from the early 20th century.
In 1916, the Minerva Manufacture was one of the first to produce a high-frequency movement that could measure 1/100th of a second, which was further technically improved in 1936, and earned its reputation as a specialist of professional watches and stopwatches.
The precision and performance of the new Montblanc TimeWalker are verified by specific testing and general operating evaluation under extreme conditions as well as under water, of which the sport watches are water-resistant to 100 metres.