Tag: Montblanc

Categories
Montblanc Replica

Replica Montblanc Heritage Spirit OrbisTerrarum Hands On

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So far this year we have had a look at a couple of dressy worldtimer replica watches such as the Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic UT and one from Frederique Constant so we thought we’d add another one into the mix for your consideration at this time when many of you will be travelling for the holiday period.

From Montblanc comes the Orbis Terrarum, launched earlier this year as one of a variety of travel-themed (whether in terms of your travel or those of Vasco Da Gama) pieces that have been released this year. Part of the Meisterstück Heritage Collection (yes as in Meisterstück pens), this world-timer follows some popular design cues on the dial which will make it familiar to many, especially those familiar with Vacheron Constantin to cite one example.

The dial is a planisphere of Earth as viewed from the North Pole. Twenty-four cities are listed on a disc indicating both twenty-four time zones and day/ night (white/ black). For those unfamiliar with world-timers the hour and minute hands are for your local time. When you travel, just adjust the centre hour and minute hands to your new ‘local time’. Your home time remains at 6 o’clock on the twenty-four city disc (the small red arrow). The disc with the twenty-four cities can be rotated independently via the pusher at 8 o’clock in one-hour increments.

The case is 41mm in diametre, 12mm thick, and comes in either 18k red gold or stainless steel. Inside is the Sellita-based Calibre MB29.20 with a forty-two hour power reserve.

With Montblanc going through a renaissance under the stewardship of Jérôme Lambert, the new Orbis Terrarum has been another bold move into positioning Montblanc at very attractive price points across a range of men’s and women’s replica watches, particularly when it comes to complications.

The RRP for the Orbis Terrarum is 4,990 EUR for the stainless steel model on a leather strap, 5,260 EUR for the same on a bracelet, and 13,900 EUR for the red gold model on a leather strap.

For some other worldtimers we’ve looked at this year, click on this link.

[Horologium attended Replica Watches & Wonders 2015 by invitation of Richemont Australia]

Categories
Montblanc Replica

Replica Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères NightSky

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

At SIHH 2015 Montblanc launched the red gold limited edition Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères. At Replica Watches & Wonders 2015 in Hong Kong, they launched another limited edition version but this time in white gold. A version that to my mind, is even better looking that its predecessor.

One of the reasons for this is the upper part of the dial, with a very elegant dark sparkle of an Aventurine background to the cylindrique tourbillon. It is this effect that is the reason for the ‘Night Sky’ name for this new replica watch.

As you can see, the dial is multi-layered. Against the backdrop of the Aventurine sky sits the one-minute tourbillon with its distinctive infinity-loop bridge; it takes a replica watchmaker seven days to complete this alone.

The lower part of the dial is a dark grey, with two hand-painted fixed globes to illustrate each hemisphere (with day/ night indications and twenty-four time zones) and a home-time indication in the form of a three-dimensional compass rose. The indicator on this compass marks the hours, and is shaped like a fleur-de-lys.

Two synchronised discs with 24 time zones and day/ night indicator make one revolution per day around the two fixed globes; the one for the Northern Hemisphere turns clockwise and the Southern Hemisphere, anti-clockwise, letting the wearer view the current time in any part of the world. Without losing the minutes the local time can be adjusted with a pusher at 8 o’clock.

So how do you actually use these time zone functions? Well pulling the crown out lets you set all three – local time, home time and the world-time for the two hemispheres. At 4:30 on the side of the case you will find the small corrector for the home time compass rose at 6 o’clock. Once all these have been set, a new local time in a different time zone can be set simply by pressing the pusher at 8 o’clock, which advances the hour hand in hourly increments without affecting the minutes, nor does it alter the home time at 6 o’clock or the two displays along the globes.

The continually running and independently adjustable display for the home time at 6 o’clock is inspired by a marble compass rose at the base of the remarkable Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument in Belém, Portugal that commemorates renowned Portuguese explorers. I visited this monument a couple of years ago, and in a spot of happy coincidence for this post, took a photo of this very compass rose (see below), along with photos of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.

Vasco da Gama, perhaps the most famous Portuguese explorer of them all, set sail from Lisbon’s Restelo harbour on 8 July 1497 with a fleet of four ships, with the goal of reaching the coast of India and in so doing, become the first to go by a southern sea route to India. This successful expedition, and those subsequent to this, have formed the basis for the Vasco da Gama commemorative pieces released by Montblanc this year.

With this expedition Vasco da Gama became the first European to establish a sustainable and safe way to travel from Europe to India (hence the two globes representing the bridging of hemispheres) and of the influence of Portuguese explorers to the southern hemisphere is perhaps most markedly noticeable in a modern sense in the city of Macau.

Inside the Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Night Sky is the manual-wind calibre MB M68.40 which has two hundred and eighty one parts, including ninety-one for the tourbillon alone. Power reserve is 48 hours and it beats at 18,000VPH.

The names of twenty-four cities in the Northern Hemisphere and two dozen in the Southern Hemisphere whose time can be told are engraved along with the matching time zones on the back of the case for reference – you add/ subtract the relevant number of UTC hours (-12:00 to +12:00), as is the limitation number.

To be honest in a practical sense the use of this replica watch as a world-timer is probably a little unwieldy, especially for those of us with diminishing eyesight (thank you, smartphones), but I don’t think that this detracts overly from the replica watch itself; treat it as the beautiful replica watch that it is, admire the hand-painted globes, the tourbillon and the Aventurine dial. Just enjoy it.

[Horologium attended Replica Watches & Wondes 2015 by invitation of Richemont Australia]

Categories
Montblanc Replica

NEW : Replica Montblanc 1858 Collection Pilots’Watch

wpid-wp-1444380129779.jpg

[NOTE – You may find that this post sounds familiar. Unfortunately I did not know at the time of its original posting that there was a worldwide embargo on the new collection of which these form a part until its launch at SIAR in Mexico on October 20, 2015 so when I found out, I took it down. Said embargo has now been lifted.

For those in Sydney, the models in this post are available at the Montblanc King St boutique. Prices for Australia are $4,500 for the model on the brown leather strap and $4,970 for the Milanese model.]

A quick interstitial type of post of an unexpected thing that happened on my final day (the day after Replica Watches & Wonders 2015) in Hong Kong.

Although purportedly slated for a Mexico release and not on display in Montblanc’s booth at the fair, the new Montblanc 1858 Collection pilots’ replica watches (aka the 1858 Collection Small Seconds, of which there are limited and production models) which had already been seen by some turned out to be already available, in Hong Kong and Paris boutiques. Perhaps others in other countries as well?

wpid-wp-1444380211729.jpg

It was with some surprise that I saw them in the Pacific Place boutique’s window when I happened to be passing by (followed up by a second trip to their Time Square boutique, which also had them on display in the front window), so I popped in and snapped a few quick phone photos (apols for their quality) to share with you.

wpid-wp-1444380211720.jpg

wpid-wp-1444380162497.jpg

With the old-style logo on the dial to reflect the vintage pilot look of the design, which features the classic hands (now white lumed in these pieces) and large clear numerals associated with such luxury replica watches, inside is what is marked as the ‘MB2320’ movement aka Unitas 6498. It’s more about utility rather than decoration for this replica watch, so a closed case back could have been an option perhaps.

wpid-wp-1444380211734.jpg

In a stainless steel case of 44mm (although it feels more like 42mm) with a onion-style crown typical of the replica watches it is recognising, it is available in both a strap and (nicely solid) Milanese version. They have apparently been selling like the proverbial hotcakes in Hong Kong since they became available almost two months ago, particularly the strap version, which costs HKD23,500.

wpid-wp-1444380144092.jpg

Simple, attractive and solidly built versions of this eternally popular replica watch style, they are boutique-only, so if you’re interested, you know where to go.

Categories
Montblanc Replica

HANDS-ON : Replica Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie QuantièmeAnnuel

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A little while ago we looked at two new models from Montblanc, the Heritage Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph and the limited edition Heritage Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph Vasco da Gama, about which you can read at this link. Today the focus is on another ‘pair’ from Montblanc’s Heritage Chronométrie 2015 collection which also consists of a regular production model and a limited edition version but this time, the complication is an annual calendar.

First up is the regular model. It resembles 2014’s annual calendar, but sans leap year indicator. This new annual calendar is a comfortable 40 mm and 9.5 mm thick, and will be available in both stainless steel and 18 carat red gold. For the red gold version, the applied markers and hands are also red gold. The annual calendar needs to be adjusted manually once a year, at the end of February, via the crown.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Through the caseback can be seen the automatic MB Calibre 29.18 which is Montblanc’s reworking of a Sellita SW200 into an annual calendar. Power reserve is forty-two hours.

As seen at the top of this post, the limited edition model  has the same basics as the previous model and like the limited edition version of the Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph, the differences are inspired by Vasco da Gama. Rather than the half-moon shaped moonphase indicator of the regular model, as you can see this one has a deep blue circle around the moon phase indication, with the Southern Hemisphere night (one always feels the need to do a shout-out when our hemisphere is noted by replica watch brands) via the Southern Cross. This limited edition is also available in stainless steel and rose gold versions, with a depiction of his ship on the sapphire caseback.

The stainless steel edition is in a limitation of 316 (the number of days it took de Gama to travel from Lisbon to India), and the red gold, 238 (the height, in metres, of Cape Point, South Africa) pieces.

So, which new annual calendar do you prefer?

Categories
Montblanc Replica

SIHH 2015 : Replica Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It would be something even more than an understatment to say that Jerome Lambert’s tenure so far at stylish replica Montblanc has been an eye opener, but the subject of Horologium’s first SIHH 2015 Montblanc posts is not about something ‘new’ so much as a very attractive (arguably an improvement, aesthetically, but that’s a purely personal view) new Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph. First introduced in 2010 and also appearing in 2013 in a rattrapante form, it features the in-house developed ExoTourbillon.

For those who are familiar with the Nicolas Rieussec models you will see a design continuity with this new model that perhaps wasn’t present with the previous ExoTourbillon. This is, in fact, an ExoTourbillon integrated into the monopusher column wheel chronograph movement of the Nicolas Rieussec, with a patented hacking tourbillon.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

In a tourbillon the escapement rotates in the tourbillon cage. The larger the balance, the larger the tourbillon cage has to be. This automatic movement Calibre MB R230 (50 hour power reserve) with its patented one-minute ExoTourbillon with stop-second mechanism (that directly halts the screw balance by means of a tiny spring, thus stopping the balance) has a tourbillon with a large balance that is outside (exo) the tourbillon cage. Montblanc states that this means that there is approximately one-third energy saving to the tourbillon’s functionality.

The date is indicated by a small centre hand on the same axis as the hour and minute hands. The semi-circle chronograph sectors are for 60 elapsed seconds (left) and 30 elapsed minutes (right). The chronograph’s monopusher is at 8 o’clock and the hour-hand can be independently set.

In addition to the regular production piece in a 44mm 18K red gold case there is also the Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph Vasco da Gama in 18K white gold edition, limited to sixty pieces. This version features a very elegant aventurine dial that depicts the nightly sky with a Montblanc diamond at 12 o’clock and a satin-finished lower section of the dial. The non-limited edition is in 18K red gold that comes with an ivory grainé upper dial and vertical satin-finished silver dial lower dial, faceted indices, red gold plated number, hour, minute and date hands (the latter with a red crescent tip).

Both of these very good looking models come on leather straps made at the Montblanc Pelletteria, the Maison’s leather manufacture in Florence. The caseback of the limited edition model has an additional design of the Sao Gabriel that Vasco da Gama captained during his voyage to India.

Categories
Swiss Replica

A look at some ‘jump hour’ replica watches

VCJumpHour5

Inspired by conversations online with English replica watch and clock collector AlanL and Sydney enthusiast Danny, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at a Jaeger-LeCoultre SIHH 2013 novelties dinner (about which I will cover in a separate post), this post is to share with you some examples, ranging from the cheap and cheerful to the haute horology, of luxury replica watches that use ‘direct read’ and ‘jump hour’ methods of time display.

The term ‘jump hour’ is actually quite specific in definition, referring exactly to that, an hour indicator that jumps from one hour to the next, but popular horological nomenclature seems to also include, as ‘jump hours’, those replica watches where the hour slides (on a rotating disc) rather than jumps, so to be inclusive, I shall include some of these ‘direct’ read’ pieces as well.

I have a particular fondness for this type of time display. This post is not intended to be a representative example of these types of replica watches, nor am I going to go into the technical details about each piece. They are here simply to be shared, enjoyed, and for those of you who haven’t ever considered replica watches with time displayed via anything other than hands, to perhaps provide you with some inspiration for your next purchase.

As I have a particular fondness for these replica watches, some of them are my own. Others belong to friends, and there are a few which I have featured in previous posts.

We start off in the 1970s, a rich period for inexpensive and simply designed direct read replica watches, many of which looked similar to this Lucerne model.

Also from the 1970s, from a brand known more for its ‘Cricket Replica Watch’, is this unusual specimen.

The pair in this next photo are from different periods, and I’ve previously written about them here. They are, from left to right, the MB&F HM5 with its bi-directional jumping hours with inverted indications, and the popular-in-niche-1970s-jump-hour-circles Amida Digitrend that inspired the HM5.

HM5w

The source of many beautiful jump hours during its history, this one is from the maison of Vacheron Constantin and one of my favourite jump hours. It is incredibly elegant and contains the renowned calibre 1120. Although directly inspired by a 1929 pocket replica watch, if you look at examples of Vacheron’s 19th century jump hour pocket replica watches, you can see the lineage of this 1994 replica watch.

This next replica watch is another one of my favourite jump hour replica watches (one of my favourite replica watches in general), and one that I can’t get enough of. I am fortunate to know someone with one, and it is every bit as drop dead gorgeous ‘in the metal’ as it is in photos.

Goldpfeil, which some of you, like myself, may know more as a leather goods brand, had a very interesting collaboration with independent replica watchmakers called the ‘Seven Masters’ collection, of which this was a part. This Vianney Halter jump hour moon phase is one of the two Goldpfeils on my ‘dream list’. The hour is indicated by the large number, the minutes and seconds on the large dial, and the moonphase indicator in the circle. Winding the crown forwards advances the time; winding it backwards adjusts the moon phase hand. The case is polished, satin brushed, matte and the small hammered marks which, it is rumoured, were all hand-hammered by Vianney Halter himself.

Gerald Genta has been a brand that has enjoyed using jump hour displays in a playful way, such as in this trio of examples.

One of the famous Genta Mickey Mouse models.

The next direct read is Montblanc’s Nicholas Rieussec Rising Hours, a SIHH 2013 launch about which I have previously written here.

NicolasRieussec5

To end with is something modern, cheap, and cheerful. This direct read originally came on a white rubber strap, but I think the orange FOSSIL NATO is a more interesting combination.

If you ever find yourself in Geneva and visiting the Patek Philippe Museum, look out for the collection of old Vacheron Constantin jump pocket replica watches there. They really are a joy to behold.