Montblanc Manufacture Villeret, formerly Minerva
How does Minerva fit into the story?
Everything is structured the same way. When we put together the 1858 collec-
tion we wanted to be sure to bring along the Minerva story. And we didn’t
want to do something we have already done. So we worked on two primary
models. One was a smaller monopusher chronograph. We took the 44mm
model from last year and created a new 40mm model this year. This is the
watch with the green dial, which will definitely be oversold by the end of
SIHH, but that’s okay. This is after all a limited edition with terrific value.
How did you develop the new pocket watch?
The 1858 Pocket watch, with
24-hour hand and stone dial.
64 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SPRING 2018
And then we wanted to bring an existing Minerva movement, but with an
innovation. We looked at the chronograph-mono pusher and asked ourselves
‘what can we invent?’ The result was our caliber 16.24, onto which we added a
24-hour indicator and one hand.
That was the first part. Then we looked at our mountaineering explora-
tion theme. I decided we wanted something strong and useful. We wanted to
be useful without being a gimmick. And from there we thought to integrate a
compass, which is perfect for exploration. >>