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Presenting the 2010 Montblanc Collection (SIHH 2010)

Kyle — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:15:43 +0000

I blogged earlier about the Montblanc Metamorphosis watch, but here is another good video as produced by Montblanc – except in this video we get to see a good review of each watch it presented at SIHH 2010. If you want to see pictures of these watches, click HERE.
Enjoy the video!

2010 Montblanc Metamorphosis Update

Kyle — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:02:13 +0000

I wrote a few days ago about an intriguing new watch presented at SIHH 2010 by Montblanc (see here) – the “Montblanc Metamorphosis” – and I promised to be back with more details about it. Well….I now have more information about this most curious and clever watch.

Basically, by moving a slide down or up, the dial of this timepiece changes from a wristwatch with hour, minute, second display to a chronograph and vice versa. Four wings in the lower half of the face open, slide under one another, and finally disappear to the left and right beneath the dial’s middle bar. A similar sequence transpires with two wings on the regulator’s hour dial at the “12.” After all the wings have opened, a subdial rises like the floor of an elevator at the 6 o`clock position, an aperture in this rising disk “swallows” the date-hand. The newly risen rotating disc is the minute counter of the chronograph. This fully mechanical, elevator-like function will no doubt evoke the admiration of aficionados of the fine art of watchmaking who witness this unprecedented transformation. Whoa!

I would like to point out that this watch is credited in large part to two obviously very gifted and creative talents, Johnny Girardin and Franck Orny. They used methods from the traditional art of “automatons” construction (basically, the art of making old school mechanical “robots”) with great modern day application! Nice work guys!

Now – if you want to see the “metamorphosis” in action, check out this video from Montblanc:

One face of the Montblanc Metamorphosis……

…and the other…the same watch, mind you (not 2 different watches!)

Also, you can read more and in depth about this watch here on our SIHH Forum / Montblanc stream.

p.s. – I still don’t like the droopy shape (“teardrop” Montblanc calls it) of the watch. Cool mechanics, though!

SIHH 2010 Montblanc Metamorphosis

Kyle — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:53:52 +0000

Can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of design of the Montblanc watches, but here is one that definitely has me wanting to see more. Looks like a pretty cool concept ie a dial that transforms itself into a new dial. Not entirely unprecedented, I think de Grisogono and maybe others have executed similar concepts, but anyway I’m trying to run down more details on this one and will update accordingly. Even so, that droopy looking dial shape….not for me….you?

ONLY WATCH 2009 – 34 One-of-a-Kind Watches

Kyle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:22:06 +0000

Only Watch is a charity auction of unique watches created by many of the most important watch brands in Switzerland. This exceptional event is held every two years in Monaco during the Monaco Yacht Show and is under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert 11. All the proceeds from Only Watch go to support research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The next Only Watch auction is organized in close collaboration with Patrizzi & Co and the Monaco Yacht Show, and will take place on 24 September 2009.

Participating brands include Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, BNB Concept, Bovet Fleurier, Breguet Montres, Cartier, Corum Montres, De Bethune, Delacour, Franck Muller, Frédérique Constant, Glashütte Uhrenbertrieb, Hermès, Hublot, Jaquet Droz, Louis Vuitton, Maximilian Büsser & Friends, Mont Blanc, Omega, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Richard Mille, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tourneau Timepieces, Ulysse Nardin, Urwerk, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels, Zenith International.

Below is a mosaic of their “pieces uniques” – you can view larger images and a quote from each respective brand about their 2009 “Only Watch” contribution HERE.