Review
Patrick_y, a PuristSPro moderator, critically examines the Montblanc Heritage Orbis Terrarum Watch from SIHH 2015, highlighting its strengths and minor perceived flaws. His analysis delves into the watch's design, movement integration, and market positioning, sparking a broader discussion on value in luxury watchmaking.
1. 1. Despite the fact the movement is an off-the-shelf Sellita movement, it's actually a fairly integrated movement, meaning the base movement and the world time mechanism functions harmoniously as one integrated movement rather than two succinctly separate pieces. MB29.20, still comes off ever so slightly thick though.
2. 2. Design, the design is great with polished and brushed surfaces.
a. It has a very small Montblanc logo, I like watches with minimal branding.
b. A nice big size; 41mm diameter, and a slightly thick 12mm.
c. Perfectly legible dial. Spacing between cities is legible.
d. Font size isn’t too small.
e. Information is well conveyed. Conveys more information than some other world time watches in an even easier-to-read layout.
f. Day/night indicator on the central map (which is a disc made of sapphire crystal), something that the Patek Philippe 5130 doesn’t have.
3. 3. Montblanc chose to produce this watch in a steel version. I'm not forced to buy it in gold.
4.
4. Price-point: 5000 Euro price (steel on strap
version) is a good deal! Excellent
price performance. I really see the value and the economic utility is substantial.
5. 5. In addition to its beautiful dial design, it also has an elegant Germanic brushed case design (steel version has brushed side).
6. 6. Excellent serviceability, Montblanc has more boutiques worldwide than just about any other Richemont watch brand.
CONS (some of these are almost not worth mentioning)
1. 1. The case is very solid and Germanic in design, but the movement is entirely Swiss. (Full disclosure, I fully support interracial marriages of cases and movements!)
2.
2. The watch is a bit thick, as mentioned before. (Perhaps the only legitimate comment here.)
3.
3. The case back of the watch has engraved letters that utilize a font could be more delicate and aesthetically pleasing. (I know, it's on the back where it isn't seen.)
4.
4. The name.
Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum?
That’s a mouthful and difficult to remember. (I feel like an unreasonable grade school teacher blaming a student's parent for choosing an atypical name for the student.)
41mm does not sound big. Judging from your photo, however, that the lugs seem to be overpowering your wrist. I'll have to try it on to see how it fits. I'm more and more drawn to watches ≦40mm.
The size of the watch is not small, especially for a dress watch. My wrist is sometimes unusually small, especially when I travel to cold environments. So unless you have an unusually small wrist, I would say you're safe on the lug issue. But yes, it's definitely big, and I too am unaccustomed to dress watches that are in excess of 40mm in size. Thanks for your response Luis!
I would much prefer a central seconds hand - if it had one, I would be a buyer (probably not much of a criticism, as this is really just personal preference). Great watch overall though. Darren
If you look at other world time watches from other manufacturers I don\'t see a second hand on any of them except the Girard Perregaux model which operates differently anyways. I do think a central second hand would make an already complex looking watch look overly complex in this case. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Now you\'ve got me wondering what this watch would look like with another band.
Thanks Patrick for the review of the Orbis Terrarum. I like the dial and reasonable price point. Only concern is the size and thickness, but will need to try it on before deciding. Overall I think this will be a hit for MB. Which version are you buying? Regards, ED-209
My biggest concern is with the size and thickness as well. Being 41mm in diameter and quite thick is the only concern. I only had a short time to try it on when I was at SIHH, so I'll probably look at it more closely once it comes stateside to determine the size. If it all pans out, I'd procure the steel version. I like the gold version, but I'd get the steel version. Whenever anyone is considering to procure a WorldTime, the inevitable comparison with the Patek Philippe WorldTime arises. What s
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