This Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 Tourbillon first attracted admiring attention with its patented construction in 2010. Now, the exclusive ExoTourbillon Chronographe from the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858, but with the new face was presented few days ago at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) 2013 in Geneva.
Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 Tourbillon ExoTourbillon Chronographe
As the name implies, the tourbillon module features a unique design with its tourbillon cage separated from the balance spring and hovering gracefully just atop of the nicely decorated dial. The 18 karat gold dial, which has a distinctively three-dimensional effect, is available with either black or silver-grey décor and with a finely grained texture that contrasts tastefully with shiny hands, applied subdials and polished steel components.
This particular watch combines tourbillon and chronograph complications with a two-time-zone display, day/night indicator and regulator-style display. Each model has the typical face of a regulator timepiece with a large minute-hand (and the chronograph’s elapsed-seconds hand) at the dial’s centre – at the “6”, complemented by an off-centre subdial for the hours with a pair of hour-hands for two different time zones: the hour in the local zone is shown by a golden hand with the same hue as the case; a blued hand indicates the hour in the other selected time zone.
Two other subdials located at “3” and “9” are a 30-minute totalizer for the watch’s monopusher chronograph complication and a small seconds counter. Since the dial features only twelve Roman numerals, there is also a smaller subdial – day/night indicator with 24-hour display between the “4” and the “5”. The words “LEVER” (rise) and “COUCHER” (set) indicate the beginning and the end of the daytime hours at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
The Calibre 16.60 hand-wound movement is hidden inside a pretty impressive 47mm case, which is available in platinum, white and red gold. Only one unique piece of the ExoTourbillon Chronographe will be manufactured in platinum, along with limited editions of 8 pieces each in 18K white gold and in 18K red gold, affixed to alligator-leather straps, each of which is equipped with a pronged buckle made of either 18K white gold or 18K red gold, depending upon the material of which the model’s case is made.
