Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph

AnthonyTsai introduces the Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph, a standout piece from SIHH 2008 that marked Montblanc's significant entry into haute horology. He details the watch's in-house movement and the compelling historical narrative behind its design, emphasizing Montblanc's strategic alignment of its watchmaking ambitions with its heritage in writing instruments.

Montblanc debuted a very interesting piece at this year's SIHH; and after my appointment, I felt pleasantly impressed and "horologically satisfied."  After digesting all the new models debuted at SIHH for a few days, I came to the conclusion that the Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph was my most favorite watch during the entire show.

43mm Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph in white gold  

Not only is the Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher very pleasing to the eye, it also houses Montblanc's first in-house movement - the Montblanc Manufacture Calibre MB R100 (manual wind) and MB R200 (automatic).  Both movements have a classic column wheel with vertical clutch and have twin barrels with a power reserve of 72 hours.  Bridges and plates are rhodium plated, and the MB R200 has the addition of a second time zone with day/night display. 

Montblanc Manufacture Calibre MB R100 - manual wind

 
The story behind the Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher is a wonderful story and fits perfectly IMO with Montblanc's desire to enter the world of haute horology.  There was a king who loved horse racing and asked Nicolas Rieussec to invent a device which he could use to time these horse races; and so in 1821, Nicolas developed a timing mechanism housed in a wooden box with two rotating dials with a fixed index.  As a horse crossed the finish line, a drop of ink would drop onto the rotating discs to time the speed of the horse, enabling the king to tabulate the finishing times of each horse and prove that horse A or horse B won the race.  To reuse the device again for the next timing, one would have to wipe the ink off the rotating discs with a cloth.  Nicolas' invention was so brilliant at the time that his invention was termed a "time writer," hence the term "chronograph" - "chronos" for time and "graphein" in Greek means "writing."

Replica of the original wood box "time writer"

Montblanc was inspired by Nicolas Rieussec's story and felt it was a good match for them.  With Montblanc's desire to move further into the world of watches, the combination of the "time writer" story along with the use of ink in this "time writer" made sense for Montblanc to develop a watch around this wonderful story.  As you all know Montblanc is primarily known for its writing instruments, so this is a fitting story for Montblanc to use as it breaks its way into the watch sector - watches and ink - how perfect is that?

Montblanc Manufacture Calibre MB R200 - automatic

 
Now let's go back to the watch.  The 43mm Rieussec Monopusher will be produced in a limited edition of 300 total pieces using the manual wind MB R100 in-house movement - 125 pieces in rose gold, 25 pieces in platinum, and white and yellow gold each in 75 pieces.  The steel version using the automatic MB R200 movement will be an unlimited production and has the addition of a 2nd time zone with day/night display.  The rotating chronograph 60-seconds disc is at 8 o'clock and the 30 minutes disc at 4 o'clock with a fixed hands display as modelled after the "time keeper" wood box display.  The monopusher button is at 8 o'clock.

Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Automatic Chronograph w/ Day/Night indicator at 9 o'clock

Another watch that was interesting was the Montblanc Sport Chronograph Tantalum Automatic.  The 44mm case is in tantalum with the bezel, crown, and chrono pushers in rose gold. 

44mm Montblanc Sport Chronograph Tantalum Automatic

It's unusual IMO for Montblanc to create a tantalum watch but I guess they want to make the statement that we can make a heavy duty sports watch, and tantalum is the ideal metal to make this statement.

18k red gold crown w/ mother-of-pearl Montblanc signet 

Montblanc also made several additions to its "Collection Villeret 1858" line to mark the 150th anniversary of Minerva - Seconde au Centre Retour-à-Zéro & Chronographe Email Grand Feu.  Both versions are housed in either platinum or 18k gold 41mm cases and the "Grande" versions are housed in 47mm cases.  Platinum versions are unique pieces, WG versions in 8 pieces, and RG versions in 58 pieces, hence the 1-8-58 in Villeret 1858.

Montblanc Villeret Chronographe Email Grand Feu in 41mm

Minerva 16-29 monopusher calibre for the 47mm Montblanc Villeret Grand Chronographe Email Grand Feu

Dial side of the Minerva 16-29 calibre

Montblanc Seconde au Centre Retour-à-Zéro white gold

Montblanc is starting a diversification now and trying to expand into other areas besides fine writing instruments.  Watches are an important story now for Montblanc because Montblanc's heritage is about producing products which can be passed down from generation to generation so watches fit in perfectly.  Currently, 15% of world-wide sales derives from watches, and Montblanc's most important asset is time.  The company is not pressured to turn Montblanc watches into a speedy success since it has the income to rely on from its fine writing instruments business, but obviously the faster the better.  It takes time to develop watches, and so Montblanc is moving forward in a step-by-step progress so the company can mature before moving further in implementing new projects.

I hope to own a Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieusse Monopusher Chrono someday and am looking forward to see what Montblanc has in store for us at SIHH 2009!