Hands-On With The Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition In Steel And Yellow Gold
I bet you’ve read the expression “When life turns you upside down, simply adjust your view!” before. The saying came to mind when the latest version of the Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition arrived at Fratello HQ. This steel and yellow gold monopusher chronograph has an open-worked movement, and this in-house caliber 16.26 has also been flipped front-to-back. This spectacular maneuver has the hand-made and hand-finished movement proudly showing its regulating organ, column wheel, going train, and all beveled bridges. What a spectacle that is. And to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the horological action, the middle case has five apertures. Why? To let in light and enable you to peek inside and admire the manual anglage, circular graining, and the renowned polished bevels of Minerva movements from an unusual angle.
The Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition is a prime example of full-frontal horology that flips your world upside down. This watch is an exhibitionistic Haute Horlogerie creation times two. Its movement is skeletonized and reversed, resulting in an unprecedented show of horological force and excellence. The unveiled design debuted in 2022 and has seen a couple of iterations since, but this kind of watchmaking magic from Villeret, where the Minerva workshop is located, never gets old.
Hands-On With The Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition
Handling the Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition is also something special. The watch is an awe-inspiring piece of watchmaking that makes you wanna go slow. You start by looking at it; before you know it, slowly but surely, you get lost in the movement. This MB M17.26 caliber has a long history, reaching back to the 1930s. The MB M17.26 inside the new Unveiled Minerva creation is an evolution of the MB M16.26 found in an earlier Unveiled chronograph. When you look in the Minerva archive, you will find out that the caliber stems from the classic Minerva M 16.29, which is based on the original Minerva 17-ligne caliber 17-29 from nine decades ago. And when you go even further back to 1908, you will find Minerva’s first chronograph movement, the caliber 19-9.
The MB M17.26 caliber in “flip-mode” style might be odd, but it does sit in a long line of chronograph movements with a great history. In the future, it will be recognized as an important caliber with a great legacy.
Apart from turning the concept of a movement upside down in a watch, Montblanc played with the movement’s colors. You do not see the brown-coated German silver bridges and plates every day. Combined with the traditional untreated German silver finish, the stylish brown shade not only looks a tad vintage but also adds a lavish touch to the classic look of the finely fluted yellow gold bezel.
The godly arrow
A Haute Horlogerie Minerva model is famous for its hand-made decorations such as anglage, circular graining, and polished bevels. This watch is no exception, and the classic movement finishings combined with the original colors make for a remarkable and highly recognizable creation. Yes, Montblanc takes custodianship of Minerva’s heritage very seriously.
Still, something else is even more recognizable: the arrow. Each Minerva in-house movement features an arrow on one of the components and the plate. The arrow is a traditional Minerva emblem honoring the Roman goddess of craft. The distinctive V-shape of the bridge is inspired by the mountains that rise up outside the watchmaking atelier in Villeret, founded in 1858.
Traditionally fluted
I briefly touched on this new creation’s fluted bezel under the Minerva banner. Did you know that Minerva first introduced such a bezel in 1927? Well, it did. And since Watches & Wonders 2022, that bezel has been back to serve as a characterizing design element. On the 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition, the finely fluted bezel is executed in yellow gold. It sits on top of a contrasting 43 × 14.78mm steel case showing a mix of polished and satin-finished surfaces.
This is not a small watch, but it is well-proportioned. And let’s be honest, you do need a bit of space for the movement to reach its full visual potential. Because of the case’s depth, enjoying the movement is a three-dimensional experience. The large diameter offers a large window on the reversed caliber.
The five sapphire crystal apertures on the side of the case serve two purposes. They allow light into the case so the view from the top is as clear as possible, and offer a rather unique look at the movement’s components from an unusual angle.
You operate the watch with a yellow gold crown with an integrated monopusher that controls the chronograph mechanism. When doing the latter, you get immediate visual satisfaction because of the instantaneously moving parts. Besides that, the tactile pleasure from operating a high-end chronograph is exquisite.
Open-worked but legible
Although there’s no dial and the open-worked movement takes center stage, the watch’s readability is on point. At first, you might get a little distracted from the column wheel at twelve and the exhibitionist nature of the gear train. Still, your eye will soon land on the large yellow gold hands filled with white Super-LumiNova.
You will soon notice the transparent small seconds at nine and the 30-minute chronograph register at three. Please take a second look to find out that these two indicators are executed in sapphire, and that the white markings ensure their readability. Luminescent white-filled hour markers on the sapphire ring also help create a watch that balances show-off watchmaking and legibility.
Final words on the Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition
Yes, the hand-finished 291-part movement is the star of the show—a show I’m happy to watch many reruns of. In steel with yellow gold and the warm tones of the movement, this Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition is a contemporary creation with traditional credibility. Another very nice touch is the closed case back.
Since the nicest parts of the movement are on display on the front, Montblanc decided to fit the watch with a closed case back. Not just any case back, though. When you want to find out where the movement on display comes from, you turn the watch on its back and look at the engraving of the historic Minerva manufacture. This watch is an eyecatcher from every possible side and angle.
You wear the watch on a brown sfumato calf leather strap with an alligator print. A classic combo, yes, but it also looks good because of the matching colors. You close the strap with a stainless steel triple-folding clasp with fine adjustment that is a bit complicated to use at first. But practice makes perfect, right?
What are your thoughts on the Montblanc 1858 Unveiled Minerva Chronograph Limited Edition with its reversed skeleton movement? Please share them with me in the comments.
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