Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph
The Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph is crafted at the Maison’s famous Manufacture in Villeret. Over the years, this haven of watchmaking excellence has produced some exceptional timepieces and this latest model proves no exception. Mark McArthur-Christie critiques this new limited-edition model from the esteemed snow-capped brand.
Andres Frey, Minerva
You just have to like a watchmaker who re-designs an existing calibre around Pythagoras’ Golden Section, just because they can, and then hides it behind a solid caseback. That’s exactly what Minerva’s Andres Frey did in 1948 with the firm’s long-running Calibre 48. To be fair, he did give buyers a bit of a clue about what was inside the case by calling the watch that housed it the Pythagore, but unless you were a geometry buff or had an opener about your person, you’d never know.
Image – Montblanc 1858 The Unveiled Timekeeper Minerva Limited Edition – 28 pieces
Villeret Manufacture
Minerva is one of only a few makers to survive a couple of world wars (they started making watches in 1858), several incarnations, names and owners. Eventually, the Maison was acquired by Richemont and became part of Montblanc, all without moving workshops. What we’d pay to get a rummage around the attics at Rue Principale in Villeret. After all, this was a firm that made everything from service watches that ended up on the wrists of the armed forces to pocket chronographs that timed Lockheed fighter jets on test flights.
Image – Montblanc 1858 The Unveiled Timekeeper Minerva Limited Edition – 100 pieces
Limited Edition – 88 pieces
Although it’d be perfectly capable of timing a fighter jet, at £35,500, it’s fair to say this new offering from Montblanc, with its Minerva engine inside, is not a utility watch. The firm has already sent their Lime Gold version of the Minerva Monopusher (just 18 of those) and a 58-piece special edition in stainless steel out into the world; this new version (only 88 of these) comes in ‘distressed steel’. We’ll come back to the movement in a few paragraphs because it’s the best bit, but ‘distressed steel’? What, exactly, is distressed about it?
Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph – distressed steel
You’d not expect a firm like Montblanc to simply take a wire brush to the case of a £35k watch and call it a job well done. Instead, its casemakers start with a standard 43mm stainless steel case, then treat it with a black coating. They then, by hand, give it a going over with local quartzite and limestone prior to it being ‘satinated and polished’.
This may be the most roundabout and unnecessarily romantic way of ageing a case that we’ve heard of. You have to wonder who came up with the idea – it must have been an interesting meeting. “Yeah, we’re going to take those lovely new cases, coat them and then beast seven bells out of them with a few handfuls of those rocks at the bottom of the valley. What do you think?” But, like so many apparently odd ideas, it works a treat; just look at the pictures. Even better, see one in the metal. The treatment gives the watch the feel of one that’s passed down through a few generations, seeing plenty of action on the way.
Minerva Manufacture engraving
The caseback (held on with six screws – always good to see as it removes torsion from the seal) hasn’t been left out, although it’s had a much easier time during the manufacturing process. It gets an exceptionally detailed engraving of the Minerva Manufacture and a proud boast of ‘Fait à Villaret’.
Montblanc Minerva Monopusher
The crown (which also acts as the chrono start, stop, reset pusher) is stainless too and has a Montblanc emblem on its face.
The case gets topped off with a contrasting 18ct white gold bezel. Despite starting life with a tough paper round, your Minerva Monopusher will still happily deal with everyday splashes and use as it’s sealed to 3 bar or 30 m. The whole plot is a relatively hefty 43mm diameter and just over 14mm deep.
Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph – Montblanc Manufacture Calibre M16.26
The star of the Minerva Monopusher show, though, is what’s inside the case. Just as it should be. If you know your way around Montblanc’s engines, you might – just – recognise the MB M16.29 behind the domed box sapphire crystal. It’s popped up in a few other places, mostly behind the dial of the 1858 Chronograph Tachymetre and the downright lovely Grand Chronographe Regulator. If you give the watch a closer look (you should, it’s only polite after all the work that went into it) you’ll notice something odd, though.
You might think Montblanc has skeletonised the M16.29 for this watch, but you’d be wrong. Skeletonising a movement, by comparison with what the firm has done, is a cinch. They’ve actually rotated it so that the dialside of the movement is now at the back with the gear trains, bridges and balance at the front. Think about that for a second.
Turning a movement through 180 degrees means it will appear to run backwards. A neat novelty, sure, if you’re playing for laughs but of little practical use. Montblanc’s watchmakers are certainly not joking, though. They’ve designed and made an extra 21 movement parts to transfer power through 180 degrees and make the hands rotate correctly.
In essence, rather than sitting between the bridges and the plate, the chronograph works need to sit on them. That’s one hell of a challenge. Imagine trying to get a gear wheel that’s normally braced by a plate and a bridge to distribute force evenly when it’s traditionally-braced at just one end. This must have done the profits of the local Café Fédéral no end of good, fuelling the work with debates over double espressos and pizza.
To mark its achievement, Montblanc has allowed itself, if not a laugh, a slight eyebrow raise; the movement number for this watch appropriately inverts its final digit to match and is listed as the MB16.26.
Switching a movement round is downright clever, but this hasn’t just been an engineering solution it’s been an aesthetic one too. The movement plate is, like pretty much everything else, German silver (a bit of an Escapement favourite). It’s been rhodium-plated, circular grained (even on the side you can’t see) and the edges have been hand-chamfered. Same goes for those bridges. The going train gets the same treatment but is gold plated.
Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph – hairspring with Philips curve
The chunky 14.5mm screwed balance lopes along at a (nowadays) relaxed 18,000 vph (2.5Hz) and is kept in check with a balance spring endued with a Philips curve. It’ll keep loping for around 50 hours before you have to wind it again – and you do that yourself, there’s not really room for a winding weight and gearing in the case.
Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph – column wheel with a horizontal clutch
Practically, the monopusher works through a column wheel and horizontal clutch (it’s simpler and thinner, before anyone starts the ‘burn the witch!’ chants). It controls an elapsed chrono seconds from the dial centre with a 30 minute counter at 3 o’clock. The running seconds is positioned opposite, over at 9 o’clock.
Despite all that watchmaking loveliness on show, it’s an easy watch to read, thanks to the substantial cathedral hands and contrasting chrono subdials. The numerals and hands are white luminescent and ruthenium-coated, as are the numerals and indexes.
A nubuck alligator strap and a distressed black-coated stainless steel triple-folding clasp with a fine adjustment system serve to complement the ultra-refined watch head.
Minerva movements make you smile with delight
We’ve often joked that some movements are sufficiently gorgeous that you should wear your watch caseback-out so you can admire it running. It looks like someone at Montblanc was listening and, even better, they used a horizontal (lateral) clutch so you can see exactly what’s going on. And, best of all, it’s good to see Minerva making movements that make you smile again. It gets a big thumbs up from us.
Further reading
Technical specification
- Model: Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph Limited Edition
- Reference: 131155
- Case: distressed stainless steel, diameter 43 mm, height 14.8mm, water resistance 3ATM (30 metres), sapphire crystal to front and solid engraved case back
- Functions: hours, minutes, central chronograph seconds hand, small seconds, chronograph
- Movement: Montblanc Manufacture Calibre MB M16.26, hand-wound movement, frequency 18,000 vph (2.5Hz), 26 jewels, power reserve of approximately 50 hours
- Strap: nubuck alligator strap and a distressed black-coated stainless steel triple-folding clasp with a fine adjustment system
- Price: £35,500 (RRP as of 2.7.2023)