jrwong23 (aka watchthebin)
[Purist]
13960
The Montblanc Watch Manufacture in Villeret – Part Two
Continuing from Part One on the Montblanc Villeret manufacture, this Part Two will focus more on the Artisanal aspects of the manufacture, where Montblanc is determined to safeguard the most traditional methods and know-hows of fine watch making. This includes component production and control, traditional movement decoration and the (most impressive to me!) in-house production of hairspring, balance wheel and traditional counting of the balance wheel.
Finally, we will look at how Montblanc Villeret’s high complication pieces are assembled in a most traditional way.
Artisanal component production and control
Ever since I got to know Montblanc Villeret’s philosophy of manufacturing their movements in the most traditional and artisanal way (and I can always see that on my own MB Villeret watch, something I have a lot of appreciation and pride on), I always wondered just what it takes for them to produce and control all these movement components in-house. Something like the Metamorphosis with 746 component parts must be crazy!
Movement components for their high-end pieces are produced in-house in the manufacture in Villeret. As each component can take up to 10 production steps to produce, it takes almost 4,000 individual control steps to complete a movement like the Montblanc Metamorphosis made up of 746 components!
These movement parts are then manually refined and improved by various traditional machines (that are 60 to 100 years old!) in order to achieve the technical perfection required by their manufacture standards.
Traditional manual decoration
If you watched the 3-part videos I shared, you would have seen the amount of work and pride put in by the manufacture’s angleurs, the master finishers of the movement components. After each component is produced, they are decorated, polished and beveled by hand. These tasks are performed by highly trained angleurs (anglage) using very traditional finishing techniques. I understand that the team sometimes even have to “hunt” for the right kind of wood in the forests for them to use to finish certain movement parts.
As Ken (KIH) had pointed out in an earlier post, even the components that are hidden from view (covered by movement plates) are also finished to the exact same standards as the most visible movement components.
Finishing and decoration of movement parts by hand will always give a unique flavor to the movement of the watch as each movement will be finished slightly different. In my view, this gives each Montblanc high-end timepiece from Villeret a ‘soul’ (to quote Mr Cabbidu) and individual identity.
Other than for decoration purposes, many of the movement components also need to be finely finished for functional purposes, e.g. highly polished to reduce friction to a bare minimum. Hence, each movement component that is finished is meticulously checked and controlled at each step to ensure they will contribute to the precision and performance of the whole movement. Great patience and skills are required for this type of craft work. As an example, the tourbillon bridge of the Montblanc Tourbillon Geosphères Vasco da Gama takes approximatively 2 weeks before it is perfectly finished.
Production of the hairspring/balance wheel and traditional counting
The Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret is one of the few watch manufactures in the world able to craft delicate balance springs. This, to me, is not just a rare craft but presents Montblanc with a very strategic competitive advantage.
By manufacturing its own hairspring in-house for their high complication timepieces at Villeret, Montblanc engineers and watchmakers are able to develop new complications and innovate relatively quickly, such as the cylindrical hairspring for the Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères as well as hairspring suitable for high frequency oscillators used by the TimeWalker Chronograph 100 and TimeWriter II Chronographe Bi-fréquence 1000.
In addition to the hairspring, Montblanc develops its own balance wheel. For the Villeret movements, one of their highlights must be those large size balance wheels. As most of the balance wheels made in Villeret beat at the traditional frequency of 18’000 semi-oscillation per hour, this allows Montblanc to use a very traditional and large (one of the largest in the industry) screwed balance wheel.
A large balance wheel has a high mass and hence greater momentum when in motion, contributing to the precise regulation of the watch. More importantly to those who appreciate fine watchmaking and movement architecture and finishing (that means us PuristS!), a large balance wheel oscillating does make the movement look much more impressive.
The counting of the balance wheel is also carried out traditionally by hand (together with a pair of sharp eyes and lots of patience!) with the help of a Potence (a traditional counting tool). The exact length of the spiral has to be determined in order to reach the right frequency to achieve the utmost accuracy.
This traditional know-how is still safeguarded in Villeret but this is an increasingly rarer skill in the watch industry as modern technologies are replacing the traditional practices of regleuses. [ladies who specialise in regulating spiral springs]
During Watches and Wonders in 2014, I tried to count the balance wheel and believe me, it is hard work! I highly recommend people who want to practice some patience to try this next time they have a chance in a Montblanc event or in the manufacture at Villeret!
Traditional assembly of Montblanc’s high complication timepieces
Each of Montblanc’s high complication movements is assembled by one single master-watchmaker in the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret. Very few watchmakers possess the level of skills required for such precise tasks. They perform this craft purely by hand from the beginning to the end of the assembly.
As the components are hand-finished, they must be all slightly different and unique. Therefore, master watchmakers assembling them have to adapt and make sure that all the components will ‘match’ and work perfectly together when assembled. Components are manufactured with an extra thickness on purpose, in order for the watchmakers to file them by hand if needed.
High complications’ assembly time can take several months from start to end. A first assembly of the movement is first completed and all the functions are tested and adjusted. Then, the movement is disassembled and the final finishing (e.g black polishing of the tourbillon cage) is done.
A second assembly, which is the final one, will then be performed. Because of this extremely hand-crafted way of production and assembly, Montblanc’s high complications are naturally limited to a few watches per year.
I hope you have enjoyed reading these posts on Montblanc Villeret, Montblanc’s Movement and Innovation Excellence Center. My next post will be on the Le Locle manufacture, Montblanc’s Watch and Quality Excellence Center.
Cheers,
robin
This message has been edited by MTF on 2015-04-24 10:36:31
The Montblanc Watch Manufacture in Villeret – Part Two
You are much nearer to Villeret than I am :)
You are right
PuristS on Tour should visit Montblanc
Hang on...
Wow looks like a Montblanc PuristS gtg! :)
This really warrants a visit!
As mentioned before...
How can Montblanc not be recognized as a watch manufacture?
PuristSPro 10th edition Montblanc Villeret vintage chronograph
Thanks a lot, Robin. I did not realize the existence of this piece.
That one made me change my mind about Montblanc and watches.
Oh yes Nico
Montblanc Villeret chronographs...
In many ways DTL
Interesting analogy, Robin...
