By Jovan Krstevski
Thanks to the Only Watch charity auction, we now see lots of cool watches from the best in the industry. This past week, here in Wristreview, you’ve already seen new stuff that we already covered, if not try to visit us often. Recently, the memo from Montblanc is quite exciting. As of news some time ago, it was rumored that the brand was creating a unique version of the 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter, well now folks the rumors just became real news. The Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter sports a magnificent movement but what we like about it is its unique Bronze Case and Vintage Green Dial accents as to be showcased in the auction.
Speaking of the nice accents of the 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter, the 44 mm bronze case looks comfortable and familiar as it has been seen on the recent production series of the watch however for the Only Watch 2017, this nice bronze case is now mated with never before seen vintage graduated green dial that appears darker on the edges taking visual cues from the polished bezel. As for the titanium bronze plated case back, simply put, we lost control of our jaws for quite a while. It’s just superb, the presentation is marvelous and there is nothing more mechanical yet elegant as this watch from Montblanc, really.
The vintage graduated green dial looks very promising. The vintage element here is enhanced by the familiar readout display common to the 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter. The sub-dials rest sandwiched in the quarter hours at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock. The legibility is good and the greenish hue simply stands out. Since the leather strap matches the dial, we don’t see the point of getting a new strap for this watch as the designers are just so thoughtful about the overall appeal of this unique 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter.
The real interesting thing about this watch though is its choice of movement. It is of course sourced from the same era that inspired the watch which is the Minerva calibre MB 16.29 monopusher. This is largely based on the 17.29 calibre which is a very large chronograph movement designed by Minerva in 1929. Vintage looks with vintage mechanics – this sounds really cool. Looking at the case back, one can see the levers aiding the column-wheel to actuate the chronograph functions which is activated by the single push-piece built onto the winding crown. Being an older movement, it still uses horizontal coupling compared to the vertical couplings of newer movements. The old school elements are plentiful such as the large screw-regulated balance wheel and the swan-neck regulator.
As mentioned before that the case back views are jaw-dropping, well just think of plates and bridges in German-silver presented in a red gold-plated version, how vintage can this go? Furthermore, the Minerva calibre MB 16.29 monopusher has 18,000 vibrations/h cranking up to 50 hours of power reserve. Lastly, the estimated price is somewhere between CHF 28,000 and 35,000.
