Jrwong23 (aka watchthebin) provides an in-depth review of the Montblanc Villeret Tourbillon Bi-Cylindrique 110 Years Anniversary Limited Edition. This highly exclusive timepiece, limited to just three pieces, celebrates Montblanc's 110-year legacy of fine craftsmanship, with a particular focus on its unique serpent motif and advanced tourbillon complication.
This
month, I will share a two part post on the watch with which Montblanc
celebrates the maison’s 110th
anniversary: the Montblanc Villeret Tourbillon
Bi-Cylindrique 110 Years Anniversary Limited Edition. This watch is highly
exclusive as it is only crafted in a limited run of 3 pieces!
In
part one here, I will explain the key concepts and ideas behind this watch. In
part two, I will share more on the technical aspects of this watch, especially
the bi-cylinderique tourbillon, a grand complication from the Montblanc
Villeret manufacture, which produces all its hairspring and balance wheel
assemblies in house.
Although
Montblanc started as a writing instruments company 110 years ago, it has always
prided itself on fine European craftsmanship, which extended to leather
products, timepieces and jewelry. Hence,
for its 110th anniversary, there are products in Montblanc’s various
product categories to pay tribute to the maison’s 1 and 1/10th
centuries of fine craftsmanship. Here on PuristSPro, I will focus on the watch.
Why
the snake? That is a common question from several watch collectors. This design
inspiration has a lot to do with the very first fountain pen series from
Montblanc, i.e. the historic “Rouge et Noir” line – that features a serpent clip. The serpent is
a symbol of life and rebirth in some cultures, a mystical creature and an
object of desire and fascination through the ages. A recurring motif in art and
design, the mysterious creature was a rich source of inspiration during the Art
Nouveau and Art Deco periods. And of course, for Oriental cultures, the serpent
is also one of the twelve zodiac signs.
The
illustration below highlights key aspects of the design and craftsmanship of
this watch.
We
will cover the bi-cylinderique tourbillon movement in part two, but I am really
fascinated with the hand-bevelled double-infinity bridge! This is a work of art
done by the craftsmen in Villeret. I also have a video of how the
bi-cylinderique tourbillon works. The video is not of this watch but the
previous non-anniversary watch, limited to 18 pieces. With Montblanc Villeret
watches, it is hard to describe anything as a E;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:
AR-SA">“regular”
edition!
Personally,
I see two distinct aspects to this watch.
First,
traditional fine artisanal watchmaking, with all the bridges and parts polished
by hand as well as hand crafting the balance wheel and counting and regulating
the balance spring by hand. All these are very traditional fine watchmaking
crafts, rarely found in manufactures today. Of course, the hand engraved
serpent is by itself, a work of art.
Secondly,
innovation! This is where the bi-cylinderique tourbillon amazes
me, both in terms of its sure beauty in finishing and animation but also in the
technical aspect as this setup can eliminate any eccentricity of the centre of
gravity (details in part two).
Let’s
now move on to the details. From the dial side, black rhodium-plated bridges
can be admired. A key feature of this anniversary piece is the applied
anthracite hand-engraved Serpent, integrated to the bezel to pay tribute to
this decorative motive used by Montblanc at the beginning of the 20th century.
The serpent is of course in 3D and adds a lot of depth and art to the dial.
Another
signature of Montblanc Villeret’s bi-cylinderique tourbillon is the Heures mystérieuses
(mysterious hours) display, in which the black hour-hand and minute-hand in
regate shape seem to float weightlessly above a mirrored plane. This actually
adds to the mystery of the watch and is a good compliment to the serpent motif.
In my opinion, I think the Heures mystérieuses works better in this anniversary edition
with the serpent than in the non-anniversary LE 18 edition.
The
watch is powered by the manually-wound caliber MB M65.63 with a 1-minute
tourbillon Bi- Cylindrique completely developed and produced in-house by
Montblanc Villeret. All component finishing is done by hand — decoration, beveling,
angling, polishing, etc. As I have said a few times already — these crafts are
increasingly rare and very few manufactures apply hand-finishing to all
movement components.
The
watch comes in a 52 mm red gold case! Definitely a huge watch and not for the
small-wristed among us. I have heard before that the Metamorphosis II at 52mm
could fit gents with average wrists due to the design of the case but for this
watch I am not sure. I suspect the 3 lucky owners won’t care so much about the
size anyway as this is such an exclusive and collectable piece.
The
case back is also in red gold with a hand engraved Serpent.
Personally,
I would prefer a sapphire caseback to admire the Villeret movement more but I
suspect the calibre M65.63 is mainly about the bi-cylinderique tourbillon and
hence the dial side is the main attraction. Also, I am not too sure about the
engraving on the case back. The picture was kindly provided by someone from
Villeret and it’s not that sharp so I couldn’t tell for sure but personally, I
thought the engraving looks a bit plain for my liking.
Nonetheless,
the bi-cylinderique tourbillion is a super watch in my books and I will share
more about this beautiful and innovative movement in my next post. I wish to
have a tourbillon in my collection one day and if budget allows, a very special
one like an Exo-Tourbillon or the bi-cylinderique tourbillon from Montblanc
Villeret will be high on my list!
Cheers
robin
