Team Ace SIHH 2011 Trade Show Review: Montblanc Watches

Last year we become an honoured and authorized Montblanc retailer and we don’t only love the fine writing instruments, but as much the amazing watches. Montblanc became a true manufacture and every year they present amazing new movements and watches. This year at the SIHH, which we visited yesterday, we bought again some amazing Montblanc watches.

This year Montblanc launced the TimeWalker TwinFly Chronograph with a brand new in-house movement  and a Montblanc Star World-Time GMT Automatic is several configurations.

After launching of the new “Star Walker” series of writing tools, classic brand Montblanc presented the globe the “Time Walker” series watch in 2003 winter again which is the integration of traditional and modern spirit.

Low-key luxury, vitality without exaggeration, this is not only the implied times spirit of “Time Walker” but also the design styles of this series watches. Simple and elegant design, coupled with automatic mechanical movement which adheres to the Montblanc watch-making excellence, has greatly showed the Montblanc’s dedication to quality excellence.

Among the series of “Time Walker” watches, there is a piece which is especially impressive. And it is the Montblanc limited edition men’s Time Walker TwinFly Chronograph watch. Black, the ultimate classic color, is the main color tone of this timeless piece. Its case is made of the stainless steel and there is the scratch resistant matt black DLC coating. The sapphire crystal case measures 43mm. It features Montblanc caliber MB LL 100 automatic column wheel chronograph movement with vertical disk clutch which is developed by Manufacture ValFleurier, owned by the Richemont Group.

The new Montblanc Star Worldtimer Automatic is uncommonly synoptic: not only does it indicate the time in a second zone, it also shows the complete world time.

Ease of operation and outstanding user-friendliness are salient features of the new Montblanc Star Worldtimer Automatic.
Montblanc’s engineers in the Jura Region of Switzerland have indeed taken a quantum leap forward here. All functions can be operated via the readily grasped crown: winding the movement (if the watch hasn’t been worn recently); setting the local time and the time in a second zone; and adjusting the city-disk for the world-time display and the date corrector. Equally important: the movement continues to run accurately while the time zone is being reset – because a precise mechanical movement that runs at a stable rate would be of little use if it looses precious seconds whenever its hour-hand is reset for a new time zone.

On the basis of a patent granted to Montblanc, an entirely new setting mechanism was developed for this purpose. Not only can this device separately control all indicators via one and the same winding-stem, it also disconnects the movement from the wheels of the time-zone and world-time indicators whenever a time-zone correction is made. The mechanism is integrated into self-winding calibre MB 4810/405, a precise and rate-stable movement which amasses a 42-hour power reserve and relies on a balance that oscillates at a frequency of 28,800 A/h (4 Hz).

This little micromechanical miracle is safely harboured inside a 42-mm stainless steel case that’s built to cope with the rough treatment a frequent traveller’s timepiece inevitably encounters.
Although this robust case is watertight to three atmospheres, its broad and brightly polished bezel gives it a classical and elegant appearance. A pane of sapphire crystal in the back of the case offers an unobstructed view of the movement and the winding rotor. A second pane of sapphire, anti-reflectively treated on both its surfaces, protects the uncluttered and readily legible dial, which is adorned with guilloche. The date is shown in the classical manner inside a window at the “3” and a ring marked with twenty-four city names corresponding to the world’s twenty-four time zones can be turned at the outer edge of the dial. Arabic numerals and well-proportioned leaf-shaped hands indicate the current local time. Within the hours-circle is the slender 24-hours scale, along which a small hand points to the hour in the second time zone. This scale’s twofold division into bright and dark halves enables it to double as a conveniently legible day/night display for the second time zone.

The new Montblanc Star Worldtimer Automatic is available in two versions: one variant boasts a black guilloche dial, silver-coloured Arabic numerals and rhodium-plated hands; the other has a silver-coloured guilloche dial with black numerals and blued hands.

We also made a video, which we posted on our TV Channel: http://www.AceJewelers.TV about our visit to Montblanc (including  interview with Mr. Jan van Holten of Montblanc):