The 281 components that comprise this hand-wound tourbillon Calibre MB M68.40 support numerous functions in an unprecedented combination: a triple time zone with local time is displayed in the form of hours and minutes; the continually running and independently adjustable display for the home time is presented on a three-dimensional twelve-hour compass rose at “6 o’clock”; and a pair of globes depict the World´s 24 time zones in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, along with the passage of the days and nights.
The 18-karat gold dial is constructed in various parts and on different levels. Inspired by the twin distinctive globes, Montblanc’s designers relied on round shapes and rounded décor. The upper part of the dial is the stage for the tourbillon with its arcing, convex, polished tourbillon bridge. The guilloché embellishment is crafted accordingly: manually executed guilloché, which adorns the components to the left and to the right of the tourbillon mechanism, is applied in a wavy décor inspired by Vasco da Gama’s voyage across the world’s oceans. The lower portion of the dial is the arena for the two globes and the home-time indication in the form of a three-dimensional compass rose.
The globes illustrate the passage of the days and nights in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Their elaborately crafted and finely detailed design also shows the circles of latitude and longitude. The two globes are motionlessly affixed to the movement, while two 24-hour worldtime indicator discs with the day/night rotate once per day around them. The disc for the Northern Hemisphere turns clockwise; its counterpart for the Southern Hemisphere rotates anticlockwise. This arrangement enables the watch’s wearer to view, in the course of a single day, the sunlit halves of the two globes and the halves that are currently turned away from the sun. With the aid of the meridians of longitude, the viewer can read the current hour in any desired part of the world by following the 24-hour world-time display on the two discs.
The continually running and independently adjustable display for the home time at “6 o’clock” on the dial of the Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama is inspired by the gigantic marble compass rose at the base of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.
Montblanc developed the 281-part hand-wound Calibre MB M68.40 featuring a 91-part tourbillon mechanism with a cylindrical hairspring which guarantees a power reserve of 48 hours. The balance’s frequency is 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour.
The indicators on the Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama can be set via the crown, the visible pusher at “8 o’clock” and the inset corrector on the case’s flank at “4 o’clock”. After pulling the crown outward, the user can set the local time and simultaneously adjust the worldtime display along the two globes’ 24-hour scales. The corresponding buttons on the case are used to finely adjust the local time in the centre and the home time on the compass rose at “6 o’clock”, which runs along with the local time. Once all indicators have been correctly synchronized, a new local time in a different time zone can be set simply by pressing the push-piece at “8 o’clock”. Operating this pusher advances only the hour-hand in single-hour increments; it does not affect the minutes, which are shown from the dial’s centre, nor does it alter the home time at “6 o’clock” or the two displays along the globes. When the watch’s owner is travelling, he or she can conveniently read the local time by
The Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama is presented in 47-mm-diameter red gold case. It is issued in a limited edition of just 18 pieces.
