August Cover Star: RM27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal

At a Glance: Montblanc’s Full SIHH 2015 collection

Montblanc Collection Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon’s Restelo harbour on 8 July 1497 with a small fleet of four ships. His flagship was the nau (carrack) Sao Gabriel with a crew of 60 men. The vessel weighed 120 tonnes, was 27 metres long and 8.5 metres wide, had a draught of 2.3 metres, and could raise a total sail area of 372 square metres. Vasco da Gama’s destination was the coast of India. If his expedition succeeded, he would become the first seafarer to find a southern seaway to India. Nowadays we know that he did indeed succeed. This enabled him to bypass Arabian, Persian, Turkish and Venetian middlemen who had made it extremely expensive for Europeans to import precious stones and valuable spices such as pepper. With this voyage and subsequent expeditions, Portugal fortified its predominance as a seafaring and trading nation. The success of Vasco da Gama’s expedition can ultimately be credited to its commander’s courage, thirst for action, willingness to take risks and, above all, his obsession with precision – a trait that is equally important in fine watchmaking today.

The 47-mm-diameter case surrounds a three-dimensional dial that positively invites admiring scrutiny. The 281 components that comprise hand-wound tourbillon Calibre MB M68.40 support numerous functions in an unprecedented combination: a triple time zone with local time is displayed in the form of hours and minutes; the continually running and independently adjustable display for the home time is presented on a three-dimensional twelve-hour compass rose at “6 o’clock”; and a pair of globes depict the World´s 24 time zones in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, along with the passage of the days and nights. Engraving and miniature painting on these two halved balls indicate in relief the outlines of the continents, their borders and the oceans that separate them. The passage of time accordingly becomes an impressive and daily recurring spectacle on the wearer’s wrist and recalls the sea route through the Earth’s two hemispheres that Vasco da Gama sailed in 1497.

Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Dual Time is equipped with a complication that was developed in-house by Montblanc, which enables it to simultaneously display a second zone time (local time) along with the time in its wearer’s home time zone. This feat is achieved with the aid of a second hour-hand that can be reset in hourly increments without affecting the position of the first hour-hand. The date display also corresponds to this local time hand. If the user does not need to display the second zone time, the second hour-hand can be set so that it completely covers its counterpart for the time in the home zone. The 24-hour display at “12 o’clock” shows the home time with a day and night indication.

This version of the ExoTourbillon Chronograph is the flagship of the Vasco da Gama Limited Editions. The sophisticated dial with different levels and refined finishes reflects the two complications of the timepiece. The upper part embellished with a slice of aventurine, dyed dark blue, catches the eye on the dial, where numerous small dots emulate the starry night sky in reference to the night sky of the southern hemisphere that guided Vasco da Gama on his voyage. A diamond in the patented cut in the shape of the Montblanc emblem sparkles at 12 o’clock.

Montblanc installed a large, massy, screw balance in the Heritage Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Chronograph. In a traditional tourbillon construction, this large balance would require a correspondingly large and heavy rotating cage. But the innovative mechanism of the ExoTourbillon solves this problem by isolating the screw balance from the rotating cage. The cage is smaller than the balance, which oscillates outside the rotating carriage and on a higher plane. The screw balance is borne between two jewels, while the tourbillon is neither cantilevered nor sandwiched between two bridges, but turns in a two-point bearing at the foot of its staff. The advantage of this construction is that a smaller rotating cage has less mass so it needs less energy to support its rotary motion.

Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Quantième Annuel Vasco da Gama – The annual calendar mechanism, which francophone watchmakers call a “Quantième Annuel”, automatically “knows” the lengths of all months from March to January. The watch asks for special attention only on the last midnight in February. A manual correction is needed for the switch from the 28th or 29th of February to the 1st of March.

Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Quantième Complet Vasco da Gama – The so-called “full calendar” (or “Quantième Complet” in French) provides comprehensive calendrical data, but occasionally requires manual assistance from its owner. Unlike a perpetual calendar or an annual calendar, this watch’s calendar mechanism doesn’t automatically “know” the various lengths of the months.

The Montblanc Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum interprets one of the most contemporary and useful complications – the world time function – in a new, innovative way. The earth is anchored at the core of this complication that is named Orbis Terrarum, the Latin term for “globe”, “earth”, and “world”. This timepiece adopts a universal approach, telling the time in 24 timezones all over the world, thanks to a manufacture complication developed in-house by the Montblanc master watchmakers. The inspiration for this complication came likewise from the history of horology and from Montblanc’s watchmaking past. The “Montres à eclipses”- watches that had multiple layers of dials that could change their functionality or aesthetics – were some of the most fascinating complications at the beginning of the 20th century.