WATCHES & TIMEPIECES
Fine Watchmaking with Character
The horologic legacy of the Montblanc Manufactures
Centuries of collected knowledge, decades of experience, years of
development and hundreds of hours of dedicated labour – they
all culminate in a Montblanc timepiece coming to life. With their
skills and knowledge handed down through generations, the
watchmakers at the Montblanc Manufactures in Villeret and Le
Locle put their pride, passion and soul into each timepiece. Villeret’s
watchmaking tradition began almost 160 years ago, when in 1858
Charles-Yvan Robert founded a watch workshop in a small village in
the Saint-Imier valley. Under the name Minerva, the company gained
worldwide recognition for its precise chronometry and became a
leading specialist in the fabrication of professional watches. Capable
of measuring time accurately to 1/100th of a second in 1916, its
mechanical stopwatches were fundamental to the evolution of
modern-day motor racing.
As the former home of Minerva, the Montblanc Manufacture in
Villeret upholds the manufacture’s legacy of expertise. Here,
Other details include beige SuperLumiNova*-coated Arabic
numerals, a railway minutes track and the original Montblanc logo
from the 1930s era with its historical font and emblem of the Mont
Blanc Mountain.
*Super-LumiNova is a trademark which does not belong to
Montblanc
Providing a contemporary look, the watches are equipped with high-
quality woven “NATO” straps. These straps are handcrafted in France
at a traditional weaving manufacture that has been in production for
over 150 years. Thanks to this artisanal know-how, the “NATO” straps
Montblanc’s Movement & Innovation Excellence Centre continues
to enrich ne Swiss watchmaking with ground-breaking innovations.
This watchmaking expertise gained from high complications is also
applied to the creation of highly functional small complications.
In the Manufacture’s ateliers, all the movements’ components are
carefully crafted and decorated by hand using traditional methods.
The watchmakers chamfer every edge, polish even the tiniest
wheel and adorn plates and bridges with the traditional circular
graining and “Côtes de Genève” stripes. Their great dexterity
and skill are also indispensable in crafting delicate balance
springs, an accomplishment only very few watch manufactures
manage. Manifesting in a superior level of craftsmanship and
are re ned, robust, durable and very comfortable on the wrist. timelessly elegant design codes, the Montblanc Manufactures’s
In order to guarantee the performance of the product line, all the timepieces, handing the passion for ne watchmaking on from grand
Montblanc 1858 models undergo over 500 hours of simulated wear, complication timepieces to re ned three-hand watches.
with speci c testing and controls under extreme conditions. The
Automatic, Chronograph and Geosphere models are also water-
horological knowledge is deeply embedded in all Montblanc
www.montblanc.com
resistant to 100 metres ensuring performance in all environments.
This year marks the arrival of four new 1858 editions: Two new 1858
Automatic models, a 1858 Chronograph and a 1858 Geosphere. The
two new 1858 Automatic models come in a choice of a full-bronze
40mm case (previous versions had a steel case and a bronze bezel)
paired with a khaki-green dial, or a steel case with a black dial. The
new 1858 Chronograph comes in a 42mm full bronze case with
khaki-green dial, providing an ideal backdrop for the bi-compax
counters. And last, but not least, the 1858 Geosphere, which is
dedicated to the world’s Seven Summit mountaineering challenge,
the holy grail of mountaineering adventures, is now also available in
this new bronze/khaki colour scheme.
Issue 37 2019
The Art of Luxury
57