Montblanc Heritage Spirit Moonphase Silver DialAutomatic Men's Watch 111621

Shanghai yesterday, Frankfurt today, Miami tomorrow: people routinely travel around the globe, leaving their families and business associates on other continents and in other time zones. Time-zone watches, which show the time in at least two zones and sometimes in all twenty-four, have accordingly gained greater importance nowadays. The new Montblanc Star Worldtimer Automatic is uncommonly synoptic: not only does it indicate the time in a second zone, it also shows the complete world time. With a mere glance at this watch's dial, a globetrotter can be sure that a long-distance phone call to loved ones back home won't awaken them in the middle of the night.

Convenient Operation is the Topmost Priority
Ease of operation and outstanding user-friendliness are salient features of the new Montblanc Star Worldtimer Automatic. Montblanc's engineers in the Jura Region of Switzerland have indeed taken a quantum leap forward here. All functions can be operated via the readily grasped crown: winding the movement (if the watch hasn't been worn recently); setting the local time and the time in a second zone (e.g. the time in the wearer's home zone); and adjusting the city-disk for the world-time display and the date corrector. Equally important: the movement continues to run accurately while the time zone is being reset - because a precise mechanical movement that runs at a stable rate would be of little use if it looses precious seconds whenever its hour-hand is reset for a new time zone.

On the basis of a patent granted to Montblanc, an entirely new setting mechanism was developed for this purpose. Not only can this device separately control all indicators via one and the same winding-stem, it also disconnects the movement from the wheels of the time-zone and world-time indicators whenever a time-zone correction is made. The mechanism is integrated into self-winding calibre MB 4810/405, a precise and rate-stable movement which amasses a 42-hour power reserve and relies on a balance that oscillates at a frequency of 28,800 A/h (4 Hz).

Elegance for Daily Use
CThis little micromechanical miracle is safely harboured inside a 42-mm stainless steel case that's built to cope with the rough treatment a frequent traveller's timepiece inevitably encounters. Although this robust case is watertight to three atmospheres, its broad and brightly polished bezel gives it a classical and elegant appearance. A pane of sapphire crystal in the back of the case offers an unobstructed view of the movement and the winding rotor. A second pane of sapphire, anti-reflectively treated on both its surfaces, protects the uncluttered and readily legible dial, which is adorned with guilloche. The date is shown in the classical manner inside a window at the "3" and a ring marked with twenty-four city names corresponding to the world's twenty-four time zones can be turned at the outer edge of the dial. Arabic numerals and well-proportioned leaf-shaped hands indicate the current local time. Within the hours-circle is the slender 24-hours scale, along which a small hand points to the hour in the second time zone. This scale's twofold division into bright and dark halves enables it to double as a conveniently legible day/night display for the second time zone.

The new Montblanc Star Worldtimer Automatic is available in two versions: one variant boasts a black guilloche dial, silver-coloured Arabic numerals and rhodium-plated hands; the other has a silver-coloured guilloche dial with black numerals and blued hands. The timepiece with the black dial is affixed to a black alligator-leather strap; the silver-coloured model is attached to a comfortable bracelet made of articulated steel elements. A triple stainless steel folding clasp reliably closes and easily opens each wristband.