Montblanc

Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Quantieme Complet Vasco da Gama

Let me start with the Heritage Chronométrie Quantieme Complet, which is a Complete Calendar. This is a useful complication and more affordable (purchase and maintenance costs) than higher calendar complications namely the annual calendar or perpetual calendar.






The watch is encased in a 40mm stainless steel case, which is a good choice, in my view, being less fussy and hence suitable as an everyday watch and of course,. It lowers the cost of the watch too. Besides, the blue moonphase disc stands out very nicely against a white metal case I feel.

As mentioned, I feel the Quantieme Complet complication is a very useful one, suitable for everyday wear, with all calendar information displayed on the dial, including the Day of the week and the Month of the year in the two apertures below 12 o’clock. The date of the month is indicated by the tip of a central axial hand which sweeps around a wreath of dates that is concentric with the minute scale.   Finally, the special moonphase disc above 6 o’clock displays the Night Sky with the Southern Cross as seen by Vasco da Gama in 1497. This moonphase disc is a hallmark of the Vasco da Gama special editions watches in the Heritage Chronometrie line.




Note that the Complete Calendar Vaso da Gama is a special edition that is non-numbered. The annual calendars (see below) are limited editions which are numbered on the case back.

Montblanc Heritage Chronometrie Quantieme Annuel Vasco da Gama

For those who prefer a higher complication on their watches, Montblanc also provides an annual calendar complication in the form of the Heritage Chronométrie Quantieme Annuel. As an annual calendar, the watch knows which month has 30 or 31 days and adjusts the date indicator accordingly. The only month which the owner needs to “help the watch” is on the 28 Feb as the complication does not take account of leap years.





This annual calendar is encased in a 40 mm case in red gold. The case is rather thin at 9.6mm and hence comfortable on the wrist when I tried it on in Hong Kong.   There are 2 red gold limited editions of this watch. The first was launched in SIHH 2015 which does not have diamonds on the bezel and is limited to 238 pieces. The second version is limited to 90 pieces and has 72 Top Wesselton diamonds (1.008 ct) on the bezel. Both versions are numbered limited edition watches with the number (e.g. 001/238 or 01/90) engraved on the watch’s caseback.

 


The watch has a silvery white dial with a nice sunburst pattern. Gold-plated facetted indexes and the numeral “12” are applied to the dial, a consistent design code on the Heritage Chronométrie series.   Two facetted gold-plated sword-shaped hands indicate the hours and minutes. The hands for the calendrical displays for the day, month and date are made of blued steel. I feel this is a good choice as the blued steel hands match the blue Night Sky special moonphase display.








Something I didn’t appreciate before about the chosen numbers to limit production of these LE watches. The limitation of 238 pieces is an allusion to the “Cape Point Peak” lighthouse, which was built at precisely 238 meters above sea level at the Cape of Good Hope while the limitation of 90 pieces corresponds to the southern-most visibility point of the Southern Cross constellation at 90°.








In part three, I will be explaining two more models from the Heritage Chronométrie Vasco da Gama series. Both of these have an in-house mechanical developments, namely an in-house movement from the ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph (I will share live shots from ‘Watches and Wonders’ of the beautiful Aventurine dial on this watch!) as well as an in-house dual time complication from the Dual Time Vasco da Gama edition (which has a very nice world globe with concave milling).

Stay tuned for part three!

Cheers

robin

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