Unbroken Lineage

Laurent Lecamp, managing director of Montblanc's watch division, on the strengths of the Minerva manufacture and how it integrates with the brand.

- Wei-Yu Wang

IN GENEVA THIS YEAR, one of Montblanc’s timepiece highlights was a new version of its 1858 The Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph. First launched the year before, it took a Minerva 16.29 calibre—a nearly 100-year-old design—and flipped it around, putting its back on the dial side to make it easier to showcase. The caveat is that the hands had to be redirected to revolve opposite to their usual direction, which necessitated an extra 21-component geartrain.

It was particularly well-received by fans of Minerva, the manufacture founded in 1858 that became part of the Montblanc fold in 2007. Minerva was a high point of the golden age of Swiss watchmaking. Its chronographs were highly reputed, and during the 1910s developed 1/5th, 1/10th and even 1/100th of a second timekeepers. It later became especially known for its monopusher wristwatch chronographs and was also the official timekeeper for the 1936 Winter Olympics. The manually wound chronographs of this era are generally vaunted for their complex mechanical beauty and Minerva is no exception.

The new version of The Unveiled Secret (S$56,500 and limited to 88) has a steel case with a uniquely distressed finish, with its black PVD coating worn into a dark grey and completely through at some edges to expose bare metal. There are more than a few ways to patinate a watch in similar fashion, but this one stands apart. Each case is put in a rotating barrel packed with stones—not just any stones, but quartzite from Mont Blanc (the mountain the brand is named for) and limestone from the locality of the Minerva manufacture in Villeret, Switzerland. After two-and-a-half hours of being jostled around, the stones are worn into sand and the cases have their distinctive look.