Swiss luxury maison Montblanc debuted additions to their 1858, Heritage, and Star Legacy collections at Watches and Wonders 2021; “Day & Night” caught up with Laurent Lecamp, Managing Director Watch Division of Montblanc, during the event, and quizzed him on the new collections…
Can you tell us about the new 1858 Monopusher Chronograph Origins?
This is the original 1858 military Minerva Chronograph of which this is a reedition, and as you can see, the diameter is 46 mm; it is a big watch as is our current offering. The crown of our current edition also matches the original chronograph. Our current edition is 100 % inspired by our historical chronograph. We tried to keep the same design and even the same functions.
Will there be yearly reeditions or is it a one-time reedition?
No, this is a once-in-a-lifetime reedition of that timepiece; that is why we made it a limited edition of 100 pieces. We find inspiration in the previous collections, but for the 46mm with a bronze case, it is only once. That is why it is very exclusive. It has the mountain Montblanc logo as do all the vintage timepieces. We wanted to create a vintage timepiece with a bronze case, as it creates a special vintage ambience.
In recent years, Montblanc has been bringing out a number of vintage timepieces; has that attracted new customers to the brand?
I think many customers are looking for vintage timepieces; but how can we create vintage timepieces in the future if we produce only vintage timepieces now, and no original creations? The next ones have to be based on something innovative that we do today. The vintage timepieces that we are presenting now is based on something that was created in the 1940s. If nothing had been developed then, we will not be able to come up with something vintage now. At the same time, in the reedition, especially when you see the back, you can see the future. Here, you can see something very innovative that will be used in 20 or 30 years in the future, when they refer to ‘vintage timepieces’.
Even if the case is of bronze, what you see on the back is of titanium. What you see here, the colour, the contour – everything is laser-generated. We did not use any colours to create the image. It is the first time in the industry that such a detailed image has been created without the use of any colour and using only laser technology. We tried creating this using other metals such as bronze and steel, but it didn’t work; but on titanium, it is perfect. It is laser on titanium and it is the oxidation that determines the final colours obtained; it is just incredible. Another important point is the stability; we tested it and I can assure you that even after a few years, it will remain the same. If we use normal colours, they will fade after a few years. This is a great innovation, and that is why we introduced it on such a large surface, at Watches and Wonders.
Can you tell us about the new alloy of Lime Gold, which you have used for the Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph?
The alloy is made of three different metals – gold: 750‰, Silver: 238‰, and Iron: 12‰. It is the mix of all these three together that makes it possible to create Lime Gold. It is not exactly green, but when you move the watch, you see occurrences of green, and that is precisely what we were looking for. Once again, we tested the gold and we found it extremely stable; we know after five or ten years, it is going to look exactly the way it looks today. We are the first watch maison, here in Switzerland, to launch such an alloy. We got the idea to create this alloy two years ago. We needed two years to develop the idea from the scratch, and we are now launching it as a limited edition of 18 pieces.
Does the Lime Gold have any other functionality or is it just the colour?
No, it is just the colour; the idea was to create something very different that is inspired by our past. For us, the green means something very significant for two reasons. The first is that green is the colour of nature and spring. The second reason is that Minerva produced military chronographs in the past; and the main colour when we think of the military is green as well. It is for both these reasons that we decided to turn to the colour green.
The sapphire above the dial for the 1858 Split Second Chronograph has an anti-magnetic treatment on the inside of the sapphire; how important is that?
The anti-magnetic treatment is key; we had requests from many customers, especially collectors. You will see it in many collectors’ pieces, because collectors are asking for the anti-magnetic treatment. This limited edition of 18 pieces only is dedicated to collectors, and we had to develop it with anti-magnetic effect.
Can you tell us about the new movement used in your other new release, the Montblanc Heritage Pythagore Small Second? Will you be using it in other watches in the future?
For this, I need to go back to our history. In the 1940s, Andrey Frey, owner and watch engineer of Minerva, decided to launch a watch with bridges that will have perfect geometric shapes and lines. Everything was inspired by the golden ratio principle, the golden number – 1.618… – developed by Pythagoras. It was used during the Renaissance in France for instance by many painters and artists. Frey decided that he wanted to do a watch movement with the same principle, and he was the first to do it. Till now, Minerva was the only company in Switzerland doing it. Two years ago, we got the idea of reworking that movement because, in the 1940s, the calibre 48 had a power reserve of around 50 hours; we decided to increase the power reserve to 80 hours. Because if you leave your watch on a table on Friday evening and you take it to wear again on Monday morning or evening, it will still be working. The calibre 48 is a small calibre and that is why it comes in a small case of 39 mm. We can build a lot of complications on that movement; we have many ideas for the movement of the Origins as well.
Why the focus on the desert for the 1858 Geosphere?
More than the desert, it is focused on our partnership with mountaineer Reinhold Messner. Last year, when we unveiled the Geosphere, with a blue dial and strap, it was dedicated to glaciers. That watch was dedicated to Messner because he climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest without supplemental oxygen. In 2004, he crossed the Gobi; we decided to create a watch that tells the history of his crossing. Because we want our watches to not only tell time, but stories. We don’t create watches that follow current trends, rather we create watches that are significant.
