The Mountain Spirit

The Minerva legacy and 160 years of fine watchmaking history – these horological achievements have served as an inspiration to the new Montblanc 1858 timepieces.

- John Ng

Of all the five new watches in the Montblanc 1858 Collection launched this year, the 1858 Automatic and 1858 Automatic Chronograph are closest to original, boasting all the vintage aesthetics. The 1858 Automatic is housed in a 40mm stainless steel case with a bronze bezel and fluted crown. It is available in two dial versions of black and smoked champagne. The 1858 Automatic Chronograph, on the other hand, features a 42mm stainless steel or bronze case and bi-compax counters at 3 and 9 o’clock. Both models are water resistant to 100m and fitted with either a high-quality black and grey NATO strap or aged calfskin strap.

The 1858 Geosphere is dedicated to the world’s Seven Summit mountaineering challenge. If you didn’t know, the challenge is considered the most difficult mountaineering quest worldwide and only 500 athletes have ever completed it. The timepiece features a world time complication with two turning domed hemisphere globes that make a full rotation in 24 hours. The northern hemisphere (located at 12 o’clock) turns counter-clockwise, while the southern hemisphere (at 6 o’clock) turns clockwise. Both of them are surrounded by a scale with the 24 time zones, along with a day/ night indication in contrasting colours. Youcan also see the longitude reference meridian on both hemispheres coated in Superluminova. In addition, there is a second time zone indicator at 9 o’clock and a date window at 3 o’clock. To keep the spirit of mountain exploration alive, all the summits are marked on the globes with red dots. It comes with either a stainless steel or a bronze case limited to 1858 pieces.