SIHH 2019: Montblanc

This year at Montblanc it’s a celebration for The Spirit of Exploration inspired by mountain exploration. The booth was dressed in a green plant wall, which ran from floor to ceiling and a waterfall cascading water drizzling down the grassy hill set a perfect scenery at the reception area.

This theme ran throughout the entire booth area wherever you look, transforming us into nature through natural wood, precious plant walls and breathtaking mountain views. Not only was the décor amazing, but in fact the Montblanc 1858 collection were brought to life featured in their latest khaki green as their main color.

Without a doubt you will always expect some celebrity spotting while visiting Montblanc. This year’s guests included none other than their own global ambassador Hugh Jackman along with friends of Montblanc actor Lawrence Wong from China as well as International supermodel Isabeli Fontana from Brazil.

The story started from the legendary Minerva watches from the 1920s and 1930s conceived for military use and mountain exploration. Minerva once used to be a subcontractor in Swiss watch making, but eventually outgrew this role and became a full-fledged movement-maker and then later turned into a brand, now part of Montblanc.

The Montblanc 1858 timepieces were brought to life by Montblanc’s own team of engineers and master watchmakers paying tribute to 161 years of Minerva brand’s rich history, adding a modern/contemporary twist to the collection. The brainchild behind this project is none other than the CEO of Montblanc Nicolas Baretzki, who has been working on this collection for the past 3 years.

The 1858 collection consist of five models. The collection of the first four models include the 1858 Geosphere, the 1858 Automatic Chronograph and two versions of the 1858 Automatic. 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 a 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 color scheme. All four models are all limited to 1858-pieces except the Chronograph limited to 100-pieces.

Montblanc Star Legacy Metamorphosis Limited Edition 8, comprised of 718 components combined with the patented Exo Tourbillon with construction more than 100 components on its own, held by a sapphire crystal bridge, together with a new kind of three-dimensional realistic moon display on an aventurine disc that turns around a Northern Hemisphere globe in a 45mm cased with 18K white gold.

Montblanc Star Legacy Nicholas Rieussec Chronograph with two new models, one is a combination of a red gold and anthracite aesthetic, while the other one comes in stainless-steel with an anthracite dial.

Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph collection symbolizes the spirit of motor racing and harks back to these instruments of glory with a line of new professional watches that comes in a size 41mm and 43mm.

The Heritage Collection was inspired by the Minerva classic wristwatches from the 40s and 50s and combined today’s bold design and technology into this latest collection. At the same time, these watches still kept the aesthetics of the vintage look.

The Montblanc Heritage Pulsograph, limited to 100-pieces, otherwise known as the ‘doctor’s watch’ that was used by physicians in the past to check patient’s heart rate. This 40mm timepiece comes in steel and is powered by the Montblanc Manufacture monopusher chronograph visible through the caseback and includes a doctor’s pulsograph indication graduated for 30 pulsations.

Montblanc Heritage Perpetual Calendar limited to 100-pieces, is a brand-new movement from Montblanc using Calibre MB 29.22 that indicates the hours, minutes, day, date, month, moonphase and leap year with its large counters at 3,6 and 9 o’clock, which is housed in a 40mm case.

Montblanc Heritage Monopusher Chronograph is one of the technical pillars of Minerva movement crafting knowledge. This 42mm timepiece comes in a fully-polished stainless-steel case with alligator strap.

Montblanc Heritage GMT comes in a 40mm fully-polished stainless-steel with a 24-hour GMT complication.