WORLDTEMPUS - 20 January 2011
Elizabeth Doerr
Montblanc was one of the brands to host a celebrity visitor to the SIHH this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, supermodel Eva Herzigova visited the brand at the luxurious Geneva fair to discover the new Princesse Grace de Monaco line of jewelry and quartz watches. What she didn't bargain for was the fact that mechanical watches would also interest her.
This editor was invited to dine with Herzigova and Montblanc CEO Lutz Bethge to celebrate the launch of the new line dedicated to the innate elegance that was Grace Kelly. To this end, I wore one “everyday” version of the “diamond-dusted” 34 mm quartz stainless steel timepiece for a few days during the fair to get a feel for its elegance. The line also includes high jewelry, high jewelry timepieces, and writing instruments.
Herzigova wore an elegantly simple black dress to accentuate the graceful jewels. These included a high jewelry necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring and a matching one-of-a-kind timepiece with “pétales de rose” and “pétales entrelacés” motifs outlined in pavé diamond.
As the evening progressed, Herzigova asked about the other watch I was wearing, which happened to be by a German independent master watchmaker. This sparked an animated conversation about timekeeping using mechanics and the philosophy of timekeeping as we know it today. Herzigova seemed genuinely interested by our rich world and had a look at the complicated chronographs at the brand's booth the next day.
High mechanics
Herzigova and other visitors to Montblanc's SIHH booth were delighted by the fill of beautiful high-end mechanics, which included several aesthetic new mechanical delicacies for men. In the Rieussec line, the twin-barreled automatic Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Open Hometime, a monopusher with column wheel and vertical clutch, in a 43 mm red gold case delights every sense. An unexpected automatic “stealth” flyback chronograph model in tone-in-tone grey with anthracite and black elements is sure to delight consumers as much as the critics are enjoying it. The TimeWalker TwinFly Chronograph GreyTech even boasts a large screw balance 9.7 mm in diameter in sharp contrast to its contemporary look.
The much-anticipated TimeWriter II Chronographe Bi-Fréquence 1.000 is the chronograph that had the specialized world abuzz just before the SIHH began. The movement's escapement beats at 18,000 vph, while the chronograph's separate escapement beats at 360,000 vph (50 Hertz). As the astute reader can probably guess, this 47 mm manually wound timepiece mechanically displays 1/1000th of a second – but in a most intelligent way. Unlike TAG Heuer, it does not show the crazed foudroyante hand making its rounds on the dial, but rather displays the result of the timing process using a “dashboard” when the stop button is pushed. It boasts a full 45 minutes of power reserve when the chronograph is activated. The movement has 100 hours of power reserve without the activated chronograph. It is limited to only 36 pieces in a white gold case.
