The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere watch is one of the key icons of the 1858 line with its two distinctive domed turning hemisphere globes and worldtime 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 colours of glaciers and ice that can range from the purest white to the deepest shades of blue. All those elements create both a very cold and modern look. This icy-blue colour is the result of millions of years of pressure that removes the air bubbles in the ice, causing the light to reflect only the blue from the colour spectrum.
Seven Summits
The 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.
Design Codes
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. It also has a low thermal conductivity and is light for utmost comfort on the wrist. This high-tech material also provides a dark look, matching with the spirit of mountain exploration. 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 colour that is combined with icy white elements for a very cold and modern tool-watch look.
Moreover, the timepiece includes all the design codes typical of the 1858 collection with 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® that is applied by hand.
A Distinctive Complication
The worldtime display of the two hemispheres 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 (for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres). 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 worldwide time by aligning the GMT/UTC 0 line on London time (highlighted as a light blue colour line on the domes). The two globes are then synchronised. 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. The timepiece is completed with a choice of a new blue Sfumato calf leather strap with white stitching, or with a new vintage bi-material technical bracelet made of matt, satin-finished titanium and polished stainless steel. A choice of hand-crafted “NATO” straps are also available as an accessory that can be purchased in Montblanc boutiques or via the brand’s e-shop.
