Montblanc’s Heritage line, launched earlier this year, changes its name to Heritage Spirit collection and is enriched by a brand new model, featuring a world time complication, that will be showcased in January at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2015.
The Montblanc Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum (Orbis Terrarum is a Latin expression that can be translated as “the circle of the lands” or, more simply, “the world”) offers one of today’s most popular complication trying to innovate it with a multi-layer dial.
At its centre, the main sapphire crystal dial displays the continents as viewed from the North Pole. The graphic representation of the world is encircled by the names of the 24 cities corresponding to the different timezones.
Under the main dial, a disc shows day and night as well as the 24 hours timezones by rotating with the movement mechanism. The rotation of this disc also changes the colours of the continents because they are cut out from the rest of the disc that displays the oceans in a light blue colour.
Adjusting the time is easy: it is sufficient to position the local city at 6 o’clock by using the pusher at 8 o’clock. Then, the hours and minutes dauphine hands (which are linked with the day/night and 24 hours timezones disc) can be adjusted through the crown to reflect the correct local time of the desired city. When travelling to another timezone, it will be sufficient to place the new destination city at 6 o’clock through the pusher at 8 o’clock.
The Orbis Terrarum is driven by a self-winding mechanical movement, calibre MB29.20, beating at the frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour and offering a power reserve of 42 hours.
The classic 41mm case, satin finished on the middle piece with a polished bezel, is available in stainless steel or in red gold. The crown features the typical Montblanc emblem in raised relief. The Montblanc Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum (ref. 112308) is worn on a large-scale black alligator strap secured with a triple folding clasp. Retail prices start from Euro 4,990 for the stainless steel version and Euro 13,900 for the red gold.
