The Montblanc 1858 line features sporty vintage timepieces inspired by the trend for reconnecting to nature and the Montblanc heritage. Design and product codes take their inspiration from Minerva 1920s and 30s military chronographs. This year Montblanc is presenting a new blue theme, as a nod to glaciers and snowy mountain environments. Blue colors combined with icy white elements, creating a very cold and modern tool-watch look.
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere watch is one of the key icons of the 1858 line with its two distinctive domed turning hemisphere globes and world time complication. This year, Montblanc is presenting the 1858 Geosphere in grade 5 titanium combined with blue and contrasting icy white design details, finding inspiration in the colors of glaciers and ice that can range from the purest white to the deepest shades of blue. Additionally, this timepiece is dedicated to the world’s Seven Summit mountaineering challenge, the holy grail of mountaineering adventures, where climbers set out to ascend the highest mountains from each continent. The Seven Summits challenge is recognized as one of the most difficult mountaineering quests and only around 500 athletes have achieved the mission to date.
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Blue features a very unique world time display of the two hemispheres that brings an instinctive way of reading different time zones. The timepieces have two turning domed hemisphere globes at six and 12 o’clock, which are surrounded by a fixed scale with the 24 time zones and include a day/night blue indicator that has been coated in rhodium. The longitude reference meridian for both hemispheres is highlighted with a blue line coated with superluminova. Furthermore, a second time zone is located at nine o’clock and a date aperture —linked to the local time— is located at three o’clock.
In order to set the timepiece, the user first adjusts the turning hemispheres for the worldwide time by aligning the GMT/UTC 0 line on London time (highlighted as a light blue color line on the domes). The two globes are then synchronized. The Northern hemisphere turns anti-clockwise and the Southern one clockwise. The next step is to set the hour-hand —turning by hourly increment— in line with the local time —the globes are not turning—, this also adjusts the date. Finally, the second time, located at 9 o’clock, is set via the corrector to display home time.
On the Geosphere watch, the world’s Seven Summits and the Mont Blanc are marked on the turning globes with blue dots. They are also engraved on the case back along with a unique drawing of the Mont Blanc mountain, a compass, and two crossed ice pick-axes. Housed in a 42 mm case, the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere comes in grade-5 titanium which is robust and durable, as the material is resistant to superficial scratches. The case is composed of a fluted, bi-directional stainless steel bezel that has been enhanced with a shiny blue ceramic and shows the four engraved luminescent cardinal points.
The dial comes in a smoky blue color features Arabic numerals and indexes, the authentic Montblanc logo from the 1930s, domed cathedral-shaped hands, as well as a railway track. For utmost readability, the day/night indicator, the cathedral-shaped hands, the indexes, the compass indications, and the hemisphere globes are all coated with white superluminova.
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Blue is delivered on a blue sfumato calf-skin strap from Pelletteria in Florence, Italy with Titanium triple-folding clasp.
Sticker Price $5,800 USD on strap and $6,200 USD on bracelet. For more info on Montblanc click here.
