Montblanc

mkt33
[PuristS]
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Introducing the new Montblanc Villeret Exotourbillon Rattrapante

Definately a surprise,  Montblanc released a new complication from their Villeret collection for the Watches and Wonder show.  It builds upon the Exotourbillon and adds a Rattrapante function to the original monopusher chronograph.  A new and completely integrated chronograph movement.

Beautiful white Grande Feu enamel dial, raised chronograph sub dials, and blued hands.

Check out these video frames.

I guess Montblanc will make a even bigger push into Asia.  As Mr. Lambert said in the video, they will be introducing new timepieces at this show from now on...I guess this is going to be the "SIHH of Asia"

OK, now I really need to win the lottery

Enjoy,

Mike

PS- here is the press release!  Check out the new column wheel and levers which comprise the rattrapante complication, I wonder how many hours it takes to finish these pieces?

With the ExoTourbillon Rattrapante, the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 presents a new masterpiece that can be described without exaggeration as a world premiere in the world of watches. This model offers an unprecedented combination of numerous horological complications: a large balance positioned outside the tourbillon’s rotating cage, a chronograph with split-second function, and a three-dimensional regulator dial in gold and grand feu enamel.

The Emancipated Tourbillon with Additive Stopping

Grandes complications are one of the playing fields on which Swiss watchmakers celebrate their globally unique status. And this terrain can best be characterized as the “home stadium” for the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret. The latest example of Montblanc’s expertise, which will be unveiled at “Watches & Wonders” in Hong Kong, adds new challenges to familiar and avidly coveted complications. Unlike a conventional tourbillon, Montblanc’s ExoTourbillon frees the large screw balance from the burden of the rotating cage. Rather than offering a mere chronograph, the new model encases a split-second chronograph with two column-wheels and rattrapante clamps with one spring for both. The watch’s regulator dial is a fascinating three-dimensional arena of massive gold and grand feu enamel that shows the time in a second zone and includes a day/night indicator. This masterful combination of the traditional watchmaker’s art and trailblazing innovations comes with an 18 karat white gold case and is manufactured in a limited edition of eighteen timepieces.

Split-second chronographs are grandes complications in the truest sense of the phrase. They include two second-hands positioned one above the other: one of them running continually whenever the chronograph function is active; the other can be momentarily halted to measure an intervening interval without interrupting the ongoing measurement of an elapsing interval by the chronograph’s second hand per se. Extraordinary mechanical complexity and almost 70% more components than for a conventional chronograph mechanism are needed to enable split-second chronographs to perform their useful function.

The ExoTourbillon is characterized by optimization, innovation and exclusiveness

In the ExoTourbillon from the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 the ingenious tourbillon mechanism has been further optimized by a patented construction: The balance is installed outside the rotating cage and oscillates on a higher plane. That improves the accuracy of the balance’s amplitude because it is not influenced by the inertia of the cage. This outstanding construction in the truest sense of its meaning allows a tourbillon cage with a smaller diameter and less mass, so its rotary motion requires less energy. The balance being freed from the weight of the rotating cage further reduces the energy requirements.

Another exclusive feature of Montblanc’s ExoTourbillon is the speed of its revolutions, each of which requires four minutes. Conventional tourbillons typically complete one revolution per minute. Slowing the speed of the rotations requires less energy from the barrel, but enhances the same compensating effect as a speedier tourbillon.

Due to the innovative configuration of Montblanc’s ExoTourbillon, that enhances more than 30% energy savings, the precision of time measurement and of the measurement of time intervals by the ExoTourbillon with chronograph function can be wed with an additional cleverly designed split-second function. And despite the greater mechanical complexity of a split-second chronograph, the new ExoTourbillon Rattrapante from the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 functions more precisely and at the same time rely on the same barrel and the same power reserve as the basic chronograph movement.

With the rattrapante mechanism as the most complicated form of chronograph, the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret demonstrates its competence in the most challenging “freestyle” aspect of the chronographic discipline.

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