Sporting soul

TimeWalker Chronograph Rally Timer Counter Limited Edition 100

CASE : titanium, satin-finished with knurled and black DLC finishing on the central part, rotating across 180°, domed sapphire crystal, sapphire back, water-resistant to 30m

DIAMETER : 50mm

MOVEMENT : mechanical manualwinding (Caliber MB MB16.29, 50-hour power reserve), nickel silver bridges and mainplate with “Côtes de Genève” finishing, hand-polished angles, Phillips terminal curve Central hours and minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clock, central monopusher chronograph seconds hand with tachymeter scale, 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock

DIAL : black with Arabic numerals and hour-markers enhanced with Super-LumiNova®, Dauphine-type black rhodium-plated luminescent hours and minutes hands

STRAP : black calfskin, pin buckle

LIMITED SERIES : 100 units

Far more than just a 100-piece limited series for collectors and devotees of motor racing, the Chronograph Rally Timer Counter from the TimeWalker collection embodies Montblanc’s ambitions in the domain of sports watches, as well as the fabulous historical and technical heritage of its Minerva entity. This has not gone unnoticed by the jury of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2017, which has selected it among the six finalists in the Sport category. Speaking a year ago to the specialized website worldtempus.com, the CEO of the Montblanc Watch Division, Davide Cerrato, stated : “Minerva has a phenomenal watchmaking history, from its origins in 1858 up to World War II. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Minerva, along with Heuer, was a leader in the development of specialized timing and measuring instruments for a wide variety of sporting applications. The first chronographs appeared in 1908. Minerva continued to push the boundaries of timekeeping, and back in the 1920s and 1930s, Minerva was capable of timing accuracy to the 5th, 10th, 20th, 50th and even 100th of a second ! It designed instruments for aviation, sailing (with a countdown timer for regattas), football (with half times), and even water polo. Minerva was so advanced that it was selected as the official timekeeper for the winter Olympics in Austria, for example, and also for Formula 1, with a counter named the Rally Timer.” The tone is clearly set ! The renewal of this model in 2017 proudly proclaims its racing DNA, to the point that it can be fitted to a car dashboard. The wristwatch is convertible in a heartbeat into a pocket watch, or a table clock thanks to the articulated arms of its generous rotating case in satin-finished and knurled titanium. On the back, the mechanical magic of the monopusher chronograph reveals its column wheel and its horizontal clutch, as well as its famous V bridge patented in 1912. The cult Minerva 17.29 movement served as inspiration, and while it is still produced in the eponymous Manufacture, Caliber MB M16.29 is endowed with the latest technologies and contemporary decorations. The reliable performance of the new Rally Timer is indeed guaranteed by 500 hours of intensive laboratory testing. With the Rally Timer, Montblanc takes us back in time and enables 100 passionate devotees to treat themselves to the sporting soul of Minerva.

 

Brice Lechevalier is editor-in-chief of GMT and Skippers, which he co-founded in 2000 and 2001 respectively. He has also been CEO of WorldTempus since it joined the GMT Publishing stable, of which he is director and joint shareholder. In 2012 he created the Geneva Watch Tour, and he has been an advisor to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève since 2011. Also closely involved in sailing, he has published the magazine of the Société Nautique de Genève since 2003, and was one of the founders of the SUI Sailing Awards in 2009 and the Concours d’Elégance for motor boats at the Cannes Yachting Festival in 2015.

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