Press release
The ExoTourbillon Chronographe adds another extraordinarily exclusive timepiece to the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858. This regulator wristwatch combines a large minute-hand and elapsed-seconds hand at the centre of the dial, a small off-centre circle for the hours, a second time zone with day/night indication, a small hand for the continually running seconds and a chronograph with a counter for 30 elapsed minutes.
ExoTourbillon Chronographe © Montblanc
This Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 Tourbillon first attracted admiring attention with its patented construction in 2010. Its balance is larger and oscillates on a different plane than the rotating cage. This exclusive timepiece now debuts in an attractive new edition which gives an entirely unprecedented look to its spectacular mechanisms. The 18 karat gold dial, which has a distinctively three-dimensional effect, is available with either black or silver-grey décor and with a finely grained texture that contrasts tastefully with shiny hands, applied subdials and polished steel components.
The ExoTourbillon Chronographe is the first watch in Montblanc's Villeret 1858 Collection to unite two of the most avidly admired horological complications: a chronograph function and a tourbillon. Mastery of the difficulty of crafting these complications numbers among the distinguishing characteristics of the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret, which has here combined the two complications in a highly unusual fashion: the chronograph upholds the lovely tradition with a column-wheel and horizontal coupling, and the four-minute tourbillon boasts a never-before-seen innovation.
Tourbillon Chronograph with New Regulator Dial
Each model has the typical face of a regulator timepiece with a large minute-hand (and the chronograph's elapsed-seconds hand) at the dial's centre, complemented by an off-centre subdial for the hours with a pair of hour-hands for two different time zones: the hour in the local zone is shown by a golden hand with the same hue as the case; a blued hand indicates the hour in the other selected time zone. Various shapes arranged on different levels give the dial a strongly spatial effect that's impossible to overlook. Time merely becomes the fourth dimension on this dial's three dimensional stage. The performance begins with the clearly visible ExoTourbillon: its bridge is firmly screwed to a manually circular-grained plate and it offers an unobstructed view into the depths of the movement. The plate is coated with rhodium for the white gold watch; a layer of red gold gilds it in the red gold model. The main dial is crafted from solid gold and adorned with a finely grained grainé décor onto which all displays – except the small continually running second-hand at “9 o'clock” – are added as appliqués in the same colour as the case. The subdial for the hours at “6 o'clock” has an outer and an inner numbered circle: these annuluses are separated from one another by a slightly inset zone with a fine sunburst pattern; both calibrated rings are circularly satin-finished and bear black Roman numerals. A slender raised border surrounds the subdial for the hours. A similar frame encloses the chronograph's counter for 30 elapsed minutes at “3 o'clock”, where hands of different lengths and different colours serve two differently coloured scales for 0 to 15 and 15 to 30 minutes.
At “4:30” is the finely encircled 24-hour subdial with a blued hand – matching the blued hand for the second time zone This subdial's semicircular scales are coloured either pale or dark to match the corresponding half of the day, and two greyish segments signify morning and evening twilight. The words “LEVER” (rise) and “COUCHER” (set) indicate the beginning and the end of the daytime hours at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
