Montblanc 1858 Geosphere in Blue
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere in Blue displays worldtime on two rotating globes. This eye-catching composition features a sumptuous blue dial that transitions to black near its periphery. Other highlights include a Grade 5 titanium case, ceramic bezel inlay and an Automatic Manufacture movement.
With the advent of travel and overseas trade, there was a requirement to know the prevailing time in different parts of the world. The simple GMT or dual-time watch, featuring an additional hour hand, can simultaneously display the local time and home time. This specification will sate the requirements of most would-be buyers, however, for those wearers wishing to view the time in three or more places, there is the worldtime complication.
Invented by Louis Cottier, a Swiss watchmaker, the worldtime complication allows the wearer to view the time in 24 different time zones at the same time. Cottier was born in Carouge (1894 – 1966), close to the city of Geneva. His invention attracted local firms, Patek Philippe, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin.
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere in Blue displays worldtime but eschews the usual worldtimer disc encircling the dial in favour of two luminescent globes. One globe shows a depiction of the earth in the northern hemisphere and rotates anti-clockwise against a static hour track. The second globe depicts the earth in the southern hemisphere and turns clockwise, again adjacent a static hour track. Montblanc’s approach proves logical and bestows a fascinating appearance.
Beyond the functionality of this watch are some delightful touches. The 42mm case is formed of Grade 5 titanium, an alloy known for its low mass, strength and hypo-allergenic properties. Montblanc could have used cheaper Grade 2 titanium but, consistent with the brand’s obsession with quality, it has chosen not to countenance such ideas. The bezel features a ceramic inlay, a material that won’t fade or scratch, surpassing traditional aluminium bezels of the past. Lastly, the dial is beautifully executed, featuring a blue central area which transitions to black near its periphery. Despite its array of qualities, the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere in Blue is priced at a very agreeable £5000 (RRP as at 6.8.2020 – on a blue strap).
The brand’s press release
The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere watch is one of the key icons of the 1858 line with its two distinctive domed turning hemisphere globes and worldtime complication. This year, Montblanc is presenting the 1858 Geosphere in grade 5 titanium combined with blue and contrasting icy white design details, finding inspiration in the colours of glaciers and ice that can range from the purest white to the deepest shades of blue. All those elements create both a very cold and modern look. This icy-blue colour is the result of millions of years of pressure that removes the air bubbles in the ice, causing the light to reflect only the blue from the colour spectrum.
Seven summits
The timepiece is dedicated to the world’s Seven Summit mountaineering challenge, the holy grail of mountaineering adventures, where climbers set out to ascend the highest mountains from each continent. The Seven Summits challenge is recognized as one of the most difficult mountaineering quests and only around 500 athletes have achieved the mission to date.
On the Geosphere watch, the world’s Seven Summits and the Mont Blanc are marked on the turning globes with blue dots. They are also engraved on the case back along with a unique drawing of the Mont Blanc mountain, a compass, and two crossed ice pick-axes. Housed in a 42 mm case, the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere comes in grade-5 titanium which is robust and durable, as the material is resistant to superficial scratches. It also has a low thermal conductivity and is light for utmost comfort on the wrist. This high-tech material also provides a dark look, matching ideally with the spirit of mountain exploration. The case is composed of a fluted, bi-directional stainless steel bezel that has been enhanced with a shiny blue ceramic and shows the four engraved luminescent cardinal points.
The dial comes in a smoky blue colour that is combined with icy white elements for a very cold and modern tool-watch look. Moreover, the timepiece includes all the design codes typical of the 1858 collection with Arabic numerals and indexes, the authentic Montblanc logo from the 1930s, domed cathedral-shaped hands, as well as a railway track. For u most readability, the day/night indicator, the cathedral-shaped hands, the indexes, the compass indications and the hemisphere globes are all coated with white SuperLumiNova® that is applied by hand.
A distinctive complication
The worldtime display of the two hemispheres brings an instinctive way of reading different time zones. The timepieces have two turning domed hemisphere globes at six and 12 o’clock, which are surrounded by a fixed scale with the 24 time zones and include a day/night blue indicator that has been coated in rhodium (for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres).
The longitude reference meridian for both hemispheres is highlighted with a blue line coated with SuperLumiNova®. Furthermore, a second time zone is located at nine o’clock and a date aperture (linked to the local time) is located at three o’clock.
In order to set the timepiece, the user first adjusts the turning hemispheres for worldwide time by aligning the GMT/UTC 0 line on London time (highlighted as a light blue colour line on the domes). The two globes are then synchronised.
The Northern hemisphere turns anti-clockwise and the Southern one clockwise. The next step is to set the hour-hand (turning by hourly increment) in line with the local time (the globes are not turning), this also adjusts the date. Finally, the second time, located at 9 o’clock, is set via the corrector to display home time.
Further reading