The Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Chronograph Quantième Annuel, reference 114876, is an “annual calendar,” and so it takes the different lengths of months into account, but doesn’t keep count of leap years. It has to be adjusted once a year at the end of February. As for many of Montblanc’s watches, the steel version is aggressively priced (€9,500), while the version in gold costs about double.
The dial shows a lot of information, with four subdials and ten hands. The subdials are organized to show the chronograph information using blued steel hands, and calendar information with gold hands. The exception is the continuous seconds hand on the top subdial, in blued steel to distinguish it from the gold date hand. The moon phase indicator takes the form of a hand that makes a complete circuit once every 29.5 days, with four moon phases shown graphically. The various calendar and moon phase indications can be adjusted using recessed caseband pushers, pressed with a special Montblanc stylus supplied with the watch. It is a very simple system to use and the recessed pushers cycle the readings easily and effectively.
The self-winding movement is the MB 25.09, which is not made in-house but is based on a Sellita SW300 movement, to which a calendar and chronograph module by Dubois Depraz is added. Working with external companies enables Montblanc to keep the price of this watch down to very competitive levels. It also means that the view through the caseback is fairly rudimentary, with a small circular sapphire glass pane that looks a lot like a porthole with a very large frame. The movement runs at 4 Hertz, 28,800 vibrations per hour, with a power reserve of 42 hours.
The case is 42 mm in diameter and 13.83 mm thick, with a 3-bar water resistance rating (30 metres, no showering or swimming, resistant to splashes). The watch has a black alligator strap made in Montblanc’s leather factory (Montblanc Pelletteria) in Florence. Each watch is certified by the Montblanc Laboratory Test 500 which simulates 500 hours of every operation.
The Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie collection was first launched at SIHH in 2015, and this year (2016) the range has been extended with two new models, this annual calendar chronograph, and a manufacture date model. The design of the collection is based on the Pythagore watches made in 1948 by Minerva, the brand that was purchased in 2007 by Richemont Group and assigned to Montblanc.
Reference and price
Two versions of the Montblanc Heritage Chronométrie Chronograph Quantième Annuel are made, in red gold, reference 114876, and in steel. The red gold version costs €18,900 or $20,700, the steel version costs €9,500 or $10,450.
