As Montblanc has established itself as a major player in the luxury watch industry in recent years, it has largely done so on the back of its partnership with Swiss heritage movement manufacturer Minerva, leaning into traditional designs that play up Minerva’s history. But for Watches and Wonders 2022, Montblanc is changing things up by unveiling some exciting — and decidedly modern — sports watch lines.
Under the leadership of new Managing Director of Watches, Laurent Lecamp, Montblanc has unveiled a slew of unexpected sporty watches. Leading the way is the brand’s first modern dive watch, the 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date. Available in black, blue, and green, these 41mm steel watches offer up what you’d expect from a modern luxury diver: 300m water resistance, ceramic bezels, and ISO 6425 standardization. Setting them apart, however, is their intricate “frozen” glacier-inspired dials, created using a lost art called gratté-boisé. Joining the divers is a sporty new GMT line as well. The 1858 GMT Automatic Date is a 42mm stainless steel watch that comes with black or blue dials and matching aluminum bezel inserts. Interestingly, the watches forgo the traditional GMT hand in favor of a red square that floats around in 24-hour increments on the outer edge of the dial. Both the diver and GMT come on your choice of a matching rubber strap or a three-link stainless steel bracelet.
Joining the sports watches is a more expected and traditional release from Montblanc: the 1858 Minerva Monopusher Chronograph Red Arrow LE88. Inspired by a pair of Minerva pilot’s watches from 1927 and 1939, this limited-edition piece combines a monopusher chronograph complication with a bidirectional fluted bezel in white gold. Attached to an inner red arrow, the bezel can track elapsed time. Finally, Montblanc’s pièce de résistance from the show has to be the 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen. This limited-edition take on the brand’s flagship Geosphere combines its trademark dual-hemisphere worldtime complication with a chronograph, but that’s far from its only trick. The 42mm titanium case and newly developed MB 29.27 caliber have both had their oxygen completely removed, eliminating the risk of fogging and oxidation that can occur with extreme temperature changes at high altitudes. To test the piece’s endurance, Montblanc is sending it on a Mount Everest expedition next month with brand ambassador Nimsdai Purj.
Limited to 290 units, the Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen is priced at $8,600. The Iced Sea diver is priced from $2,975, the GMT starts at $3,515, and the Monopusher Red Arrow is limited to just 88 pieces at $30,500. All are available now from Montblanc.
