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jrwong23 (aka watchthebin)
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Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères – Part Three

Sorry for the delay in Part 3 of the Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères – I was on vacation in Taiwan and hence the delay.


Having seen this watch in the metal last Fri when Mr Jerome Lambert was in Singapore, with him personally inviting me and fellow PuristS to handle the watch and admire the artisanal beauty of the dial and movement, I am even more inspired to share Part 3 here with you today.  


The Dial

The dial, like all Montblanc watches from their Villeret manufacture, is crafted from solid gold. My fellow Purist, Kons, had explained what Mr Lambert shared with us last Friday in the Montblanc-Sincere Singapore event. Gold is a much more stable metal and the chance of any oxidation is very low – this ensures the dial remains consistently beautiful for decades and centuries and will not distort both the beauty and function of any aspects of the dial. I believe this is especially important to grand feu enamel dials.



What is unique about the dial of the Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères is that it is a 3D dial. Very much 3D for those of you fortunate to see it in the metal. The 3D depth of the dial is contributed by the 2 spheres as well as the cylindrique tourbillon, with its double infinity tourbillion bridge.  


The picture below shows the 3D effect and depth of the dial very well.





Some more details on the dial below explained by Montblanc.





Details on the upper dial  

The upper part of the dial has what I feel is even nicer than the 2 spheres in a very discreet way, i.e. the double infinity tourbillon bridge that is beveled by hand in a most traditional way that few watchmakers do today. The bridge itself is a 3D bridge that is full of depth and is a perfect compliment to the cylinderique tourbillon.  


Mr Lambert shared with us in Singapore. The previous infinity bridge of other Montblanc Villeret tourbillons are hand beveled in 1 week. This double infinity bridge on the Cylinderique Geospheres takes 2 weeks to bevel by hand. Double the work, double the visual treat!





What is less obvious is the upper cage of the bridge is slightly curved – this can be seen only when you tilt the watch and the dial at an angle. This is done to match the design of the 2 globes below it. The 2 globes are round and hence the curved upper cage of the bridge perfectly matches the globes. Such attention to details are definitely something PuristS like us value.






As seen above, the upper part of the dial has guilloche wave patterns around the tourbillon cage. The guilloche is done manually like all high end watches, via engine turning. Why waves for the pattern? The inspiration came from Vasco da Gama’s voyages on sea.


Details on the lower dial  

The lower dial is decorated by the 2 beautiful globes as well as a home time indicator via a compass rose design. Not many watches I know of has such decoration on the dial, to such an extent! Like I mentioned before, I will struggle to read the worldtime with my aging eyes but will instead, admire the beauty of the hand painted globes (especially with a loupe!).


The worldtime is read through two hand-painted and engraved globes. Mr Lambert shared with me that the globes are made of solid gold too, again not just for luxury reasons but also to ensure the globes remain beautiful for a long time as gold is stable and will not oxidize easily.


Miniature painting is done on the globes and this requires rare and specific skills including manual dexterity, mastery of pigments and mixture of colors and hours of total concentration. Each tiny globe is a unique piece of artwork, taking at least one week of dedicated craftsmanship. The craftsman has to meticulously scrutinize the pattern on the globe to determine the predominant color in each of its details to suit the engraved map. Finding precisely the right nuance of color is one of the most challenging tasks.





The craftsman begins the painting of the globe with the most challenging and detailed part of the globe (with the most complex engraving of the map for example). After that, he continues with the less complicated parts but has to continue with utmost concentration to produce a flawless piece of art. He has to re-paint the entire globe if a mistake were made.


The home time indicator, located at 6 o’clock of the dial, is read on a compass rose with parts which are handmade and hand beveled. The continually running and independently adjustable display for the home time is inspired by the gigantic marble compass rose at the base of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Lisbon) which commemorates Portuguese discoverers. 





The home time indicator is a work of art in itself. Although not as obviously beautiful as the 2 globes, it is like the double infinity bridge, which is more discreetly decorated. The compass rose is composed of four parts and each of the parts is entirely handmade and hand beveled, to the standards of the movement parts of Montblanc Villeret’s watches.


Movement and case back

Like all Montblanc Villeret watches, the movement is beautifully hand finished. The Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geospheres is no different. It may not look as complicated as the chronographs movements of other well known Villeret watches and may be “overwhelmed” by the sheer artisanal beauty of the dial and components of the dial but the movement is still finished to the traditional high standards of all Villeret movements.  


Traditions from the manufacture Minerva are still followed in this watch, with a black finished pawl featuring the hand finished Minerva arrow as well as the use of German (nickel) silver for the base plates. 


 On the case back, the names of 24 cities in the Northern Hemisphere and another two dozen cities in the Southern Hemisphere are engraved along with the matching time zones.  Frankly, I doubt I will use this feature on the caseback when I can marvel at the inner angles and gold chatons on the movement.






This is the last part of my post on the Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geospheres. To conclude, I will say this is another of those Super Watches from Montblanc Villeret, only this time, even more spectacular and probably the most eye-catching Montblanc watch to date, both at first glance and when admiring the details with a loupe. Hope you will have the chance to see this watch in the metal someday. There are only 18 of this limited edition watch and I hope as many PuristS can see this watch as possible.  



Cheers

robin





This message has been edited by jrwong23 on 2015-05-26 03:20:15