JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
RACER’S ROLEX
ARTISANS DE GENÈVE HAS TEAMED WITH FAMED RACECAR
CHAMPION JUAN PABLO MONTOYA to create La Montoya, a
skeletonized version of the Rolex Daytona.
To be issued as a limited edition of fifty pieces, La Montoya
features a Rolex caliber 4130 dismounted piece by piece, cut, angled,
and finished by hand in the Vallée de Joux. Artisans de Genève
replaced the bezel from the original Daytona with a new tachymeter
bezel machined in a forged carbon block, a use that recalls the same
materials found in the racecars driven by Montoya.
The dial of the new La Montoya also resonates with the automotive
world. It has been skeletonized, angled and polished by hand. The red
arrow chronograph hand is sandblasted while the counter hands are
now specially shaped, customized pieces. And, like the hands, each
chronograph counter is individually painted by hand with the colors
of Colombia, Juan Pablo Montoya’s home country.
La Montoya, which debuted in November after two years of
research and development, also wears Artisans de Genève’s
96 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2019
signature: a solid gold rotor. Manufactured of 22-karat grey gold
and completely open-worked, the rotor enhances the beauty of the
movement. In addition, the watch’s transparent sapphire caseback is
individually engraved, numbered and polished by hand.
“I’ve always been passionate about the Rolex Daytona,” says
Montoya. “ I probably have seven or eight of them. I won the ‘Rolex
24’ three times, and this is a watch that really relates to all of my
racing. So I was amazed when the idea came along to do a skeleton
Daytona. Artisans de Genève went far beyond anything I could
ask for.”
The “La Montoya” is the latest customized timepiece collection
from Artisans de Genève, a Geneva-based watchmaker that offers
exclusive watch modifications based on request for a very limited
number of timepieces. All modifications and finishes are completed
in its Swiss workshops. Artisans de Genève SA is an independent
company that operates without affiliation to any other watch brand.
(Sponsored story)
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