MONTBLANC STAR LEGACY SUSPENDED EXO TOURBILLON CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES: CELEBRATING FRANCE’ S MOST LEGENDARY MASQUERADE BALL“ LE SECRET DU BAL DES IFS”
The new limited edition timepiece combines traditional high horology, marquetry, hand-engraving and champlevé enamel with cutting-edge 3D-modelling and laser-etching to create Montblanc’ s most opulently crafted watch to date.
THE PARTY OF A CENTURY
In 1745, King Louis XV of France hosted the wedding of his son, the Dauphin Louis, to the Infanta Maria Theresa Raphael of Spain. Held at the Palace of Versailles, the marriage ceremony itself is hardly remembered today, but the masquerade ball hosting an estimated 1500 costumed guests in the gilded Hall of Mirrors( galerie des Glaces) is still remembered as one of the most spectacular and historically important parties in recorded history.
One of the many gossipy tidbits of the all-night party is that of Louis XV himself passing shoulderto-shoulder through the packed ballroom with his entourage, each dressed as rather enormous, sculpted yew tree. The event was soon dubbed The Yew Tree Ball( Le Bal des Ifs) by the ever-gossipy French press. Why would a king don such a costume and risk exposure among the throng? To flirt, of course, with the bewitching Madame d’ Etiolles, an upwardly mobile Parisian beauty who would soon become the official court mistress of the king, taking the revered title Marquise de Pompadour.
THE ART OF LUXURY ISSUE 73 2025