SPEED AS A WAY OF LIFE
Montblanc’s urban collection has seen a change in lifestyle, so to speak, and now focuses on sport and speed, but without losing its dynamic and designer look. A contemporary homage to the chronographs that have been making the Manufacture Minerva’s reputation since 1908.
With Davide Cerrato’s appointment at the head of Montblanc’s Watch division, the Hamburg brand’s watch collections have been the subject of changes, with notably a new market position oriented towards sports watches. After bronze was introduced into the 1858 range, it’s now the turn of the TimeWalker to get a new look in both aesthetic and mechanical terms. This redefinition of the product epitomises the total merger between Montblanc and the Manufacture Minerva, providing it with more character, while maintaining a very reasonable price range.
Among the new Montblanc timepieces on display at the 27th Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), two sports watches attracted attention with their design, their complications and their affordable prices: the TimeWalker Chronograph Automatic and the TimeWalker Chronograph UTC.
Driven by the MB 25.07 automatic calibre that provides a power reserve of 46 hours and powers the chronograph and date functions, the TimeWalker Chronograph Automatic model features a 43 mm steel case. The case is fitted with a revolving black ceramic bezel where a 12-hour scale is engraved. The dial, equipped with a chapter ring around a black disc, displays an hour marker with indexes and large, rhodium, luminescent Arabic numerals. At the centre, two dauphine watch hands indicate the hours and minutes, while the seconds are shown in a counter at 9 o’clock. The date appears discreetly at 3 o’clock. The red, arrow-tipped second hand counts down the seconds of the chronograph, while two counters, placed at 12 and 6 o’clock, keep track of the minutes and the hours. The watch is also available with a silver dial.
The second model worth checking out is the TimeWalker Chronograph UTC. The self-winding MB 25.03 calibre is housed in a black DLC case measuring 43mm in diameter. Along with a chronograph function like the watch described above, this new TimeWalker Chronograph UTC also includes three time zones. Local time and the minutes are shown at the centre of the black dial by two rhodium Dauphine hands; the time at home is displayed with a stick hand tipped with a red arrow and, to finish, the black ceramic bezel has a 24-hour scale engraved in it.
Price: 3 990 EUR (chronograph on leather or rubber) – 4 290 EUR (chronograph on steel) – 4 990 EUR (UTC chronograph)
By Sharmila Bertin