Montblanc

AndrewD
[HoMe Moderator]
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A Brother Moons you …

Dear Madoco,

Great to see your new Valjoux Cal. 72C Minerva. Congratulations on a great watch. Nice to see another iteration of this Minerva amongst Purists. I have thoroughly enjoyed wearing mine and appreciate its history, purposeful proportions and legibility.

I would agree with Steve regarding servicing. Unless you know more of the service history of these vintage pieces, it is advisable to service them as lubricants dry out and you may be doing damage by grinding dry parts. If it’s more of a ‘museum piece’ which you only wind occasionally, then perhaps you could delay it, but it’s a shame not to wear such a watch in rotation.

Montblanc confirmed (Click Here) last year that they would service historical Minerva watches, and that these could be transported from their various international points-of-sale. However, you may also be able to find a local competent watchmaker with experience in Valjoux chronographs.

I put a bit of information about the Cal 72C into my review last year. This movement has a lovely screwed balance and beats at a leisurely 18000vph (the Cal. 730 in my moonphase has a smooth glucyder balance and beats at 21600vph). Your movement was widely used by many distinguished Swiss companies in the 1950’s and 60’s.

I like display backs, but prefer to keep vintage pieces as they were intended. Either way I would love to see some further photos of your watch and movement. There is a WristScan Forum with a weekly ‘show-and-tell’ where some wristshots would be appreciated.

Congratulations again.

Andrew