While Montblanc’s primary focus this year is the more commercially oriented Timewalker collection, there is one piece from the collection that stands out not only due to its quality and price but do to its ingenuity – the Timewalker Rally Timer 100 Limited Edition. What is it? It’s a stopwatch, a table clock, a dashboard-mountable rally timer, and a wrist chronograph. But that’s not even all – the damn thing features one the finest manually wound chronograph calibers on planet Earth!
The inspiration for this piece is obvious enough – the Minerva rally timers and stop watches that many of know and love from the first part of the 20th century. And if Montblanc made this watch into simply a rally timer or a stopwatch, that would be one thing, but the manufacture went much further. You see in the picture above how there are two little legs that pop out of the titanium caseback? That’s so you can prop it up on your desk and use it as a clock.
And here? Yup, the thing comes with a specially design leather snap strap so you can wear it as wrist chronograph. And what’s more is that the entire watch can rotate up to 90° just by turning it. So you can wear it straight up or you can turn it to the side as pictured above. The thinking here is that turning it on an angle will make it easier to read when driving.
Inside this rally timer / desk clock / wristwatch is the Montblanc caliber MB M16.29, which features a column wheel, horizontal coupling, and a power reserve of 50 hours. The caliber takes its inspiration from the original Minerva caliber 17.29, developed in the 1930s, used for both pocket watches and wristwatches. It is absolutely one of the most beautiful manually-wound chronographs in the world, with its large balance wheel and slow frequency.
The 50mm device is cased is brushed titanium and just 100 pieces will be made. The pricing on this will be around €38,000 (approximately $ 40,430 at time of publishing) and, to be honest, considering the caliber inside and the engineering required to create this piece, it makes total sense.
For more, visit Montblanc online.
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