MONTBLANC – TimeWalker Chronograph 100 Limited Edition NEW
SIHH 2014
Highest Performance thanks to Precision Engineering and High-Tech Materials
A patented chronograph function enables the Montblanc
TimeWalker Chronograph 100 to perform a feat that’s seldom achieved by
mechanical timepieces: it can measure elapsed intervals to the nearest
100th of a second. To accomplish this, the watch relies on the Montblanc
Manufacture’s nearly century-old competence for measuring intervals to
the nearest 100th of a second.
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The
Minerva Manufacture, which would later become the
Montblanc
Manufacture in Villeret, sparked enthusiasm among specialists in this
disciple when it launched its first mechanical 100th-of-a-second
stopwatch in
1916. Subsequent versions were equipped with a chronograph
hand that requires just one second to complete a full 360° circuit of
the dial. Precisely this principle is employed by the
Montblanc
TimeWalker Chronograph 100 with its newly developed manufacture calibre
MB M66.25. This high-performance manufacture calibre is embedded in a
case crafted from materials which are used in racing cars and which
further accentuate the movement’s innovative mechanisms. Highly advanced
materials and mechanisms are uncompromisingly combined with a
manufacture movement that is built in accord with the centuries-old
tradition of the art of Swiss watchmaking. Meticulous manual
craftsmanship and decorative finishes uphold the rigorous standards of
even the most demanding connoisseurs. In the
Montblanc TimeWalker
Chronograph 100,
Montblanc’s watchmakers have successfully united
performance-oriented innovation and the finest horological tradition.
One Movement – Two Hearts
For
a watch to measure intervals with 100th-of-a-second precision, its
balance must be able to vibrate at a frequency of 360,000
semi-oscillations per hour (50 hertz). In conventional chronograph
wristwatches, one and the same balance drives both the ordinary time
display and the chronograph mechanism for measuring elapsed intervals.
Activating the “start” function creates a connection between the going
train and the chronograph; this link is severed when the “stop” function
is triggered. Due to its need for a frequency of 360,000
semi-oscillations per hour, the
Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph 100
cannot rely on the same mechanical principle as a conventional
chronograph calibre, which vibrates at a much slower pace of 2.5 or 4
hertz. This necessity prompted the watchmakers in Villeret to devise a
solution with two balances. A large, massy, screw balance oscillates at a
frequency of 18,000 A/h (2.5 Hz) to ensure the precise rate of the
going train, while a small balance paced at the extremely high frequency
of 360,000 A/h (50 Hz) regulates the chronograph function. Rather than
remaining continually in motion, the separate balance for the
chronograph begins to vibrate only when the “start” function is
activated by a flexible steel lamella (called fouet) mounted behind the
arrowhead of the chronograph rocker. When the “stop” function is
triggered, this slender steel plate arrests the tiny 50-Hz balance and
holds it motionlessly in place until the next elapsed-time measurement
begins.The chronograph function is powered by its own barrel, which
stores enough energy to measure intervals up to 45 minutes in duration.
An elapsed-time measurement can be indefinitely extended by turning the
crown anticlockwise while the chronograph is running, thus adding fresh
energy to the chronograph’s barrel. The going train for the ordinary
time display draws its energy from a second barrel that guarantees a
100-hour power reserve.
The Chronograph’s Patented Control Mechanism
The
TimeWalker Chronograph 100 is equipped with two zero-return mechanisms:
one for the 100ths of a second and another for the elapsed minutes and
seconds.
The engineers at the
Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret
devised a patented mechanism with an innovative column-wheel control and
a novel zero-return solution for the central 100ths of-a-second hand or
trotteuse. A two-level column-wheel separates the functional level for
starting and stopping the chronograph from the zero-return level for the
elapsed-time counters. The column-wheel bears four narrow and four
broad pillars, between which alternately higher and lower switching
levels are positioned. The higher level controls the chronograph rocker:
its arrowhead carries the slender steel lamella that starts and stops
the finely toothed 50-Hz balance. When the measurement of an elapsing
interval commences, the column-wheel gives an impulse to the chronograph
rocker, which then moves away from the high-frequency balance and
transfers the impulse via the steel lamella (fouet) at its tip to the
balance, which instantly begins vibrating at an hourly frequency of
360,000 semi-oscillations. When the measurement of the elapsed interval
is halted, the column-wheel moves the chronograph rocker toward the
chronograph’s balance so that the steel lamella presses against the
balance’s rim, thus halting both the balance’s vibrations and the
progress of the chronograph’s elapsed-time hands.
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The lower level
of the column-wheel is the switching plane for the beak of the
heart-lever. This lever returns to zero the 60 elapsed-seconds hand,
which is connected to the heart-lever of the 15 elapsed-minutes counter.
Heart-levers and heart-cams act in the conventional manner to return
these two counters to their zero positions.
By contrast, the
zero-return of the 100th-of-a-second hand is accomplished in an
innovative way. The 100thof- a-second wheel carries a disc with a catch.
While an ongoing interval is being measured, the heart-lever of the
seconds-counter wheel presses a little arrowhead-shaped lever with a
barb away from this catch. When the chronograph’s hands are returned to
their zero settings after the duration of an elapsed interval has been
measured, the heart-level releases the little lever; a spring now
presses the lever against the wheel with the catch. The
100th-of-a-second hand is freed to complete its unfinished circuit until
it reaches its zero position, where it is halted because the catch of
its zero-return disc engages with the barb of the zero-return lever.
Traditionally Fabricated Movements
The
design and construction of the movement are extraordinarily innovative,
but the manufacturing methods rigorously uphold horological tradition.
The
Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret is one of the few remaining
manufactories where all of these time-honoured skills are still
practiced. Plates, bridges and steel components are painstakingly and
manually fabricated and decorated with circular graining and/or Geneva
waves. Edges are manually bevelled; the bevels are then polished by hand
and the flanks undergo brushfinishing. Each balance-spring is
individually counted by hand and by the artisan’s unaided eyes.
Meticulous handcraftsmanship is likewise used for the mise en fonction
of the chronograph: here, the functional surfaces of all rockers and
levers are abraded to match each other with tolerances in the 100th
of-a-millimeter range, and the ruby pallet-stones are exactly adjusted
in the pallets. These tasks involve countless steps and require partial
disassembly and subsequent reassembly of the movement until it runs with
optimal smoothness –and the timepiece satisfies the perfectionists at
Montblanc.
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The Case is made of High-Tech Materials
The
tripartite case combines various materials that are commonly used in
auto racing and that accentuate the innovative character of the
movement. The titanium steel bezel is coated with a layer of extremely
scratch-resistant DLC (diamond-like carbon). The screwed back is crafted
from titanium and bears an inset pane of sapphire crystal. Titanium
sheathed with carbon fibre forms the middle piece of the case:
Montblanc
crafts this sheath as a seamless, complexly structured cocoon rather
than merely gluing a simple carbonfibre shell around the titanium
carrure. Several dozen layers of carbon fibre, with the fibres in each
layer oriented at 90° to those in the preceding stratum, are fused
together with artificial resin at high temperature with a pressure of 10
tons. This produces a compact carbon-fibre block. The case’s round
sheath is stamped perpendicularly to the carbon-fibre layers to form a
seamless “monoblock” which is then tautly stretched over the case’s
titanium middle piece. The monoblock’s surface boasts a special
horizontally striped pattern rather than the typically uniform texture
of carbon-fibre. This intimate liaison between titanium and
ageingresistant carbon fibre results in a lightweight yet remarkably
robust case that optimally protects its precious mechanical inner life.
The middle piece of the case is clamped between two pierced longitudinal
titanium brackets. These transition into the characteristic
skeletonised horns of the
TimeWalker collection and give the case its
distinctive
TimeWalker look. The large crown is likewise crafted from
titanium and topped by an inset
Montblanc emblem made of
mother-of-pearl. Nonslip crosswise fluting around the crown’s flanks
facilitates manual winding, which can be performed in two directions:
turning the crown clockwise tightens the mainspring for the going train,
turning it anticlockwise provides energy for the chronograph function.
As a reference to the stopwatch that Minerva launched in
1916, the
chronograph button on the
Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph 100 is
similarly positioned at “12 o’clock”. The new wristwatch is affixed to a
strap made of black alligator-leather with large reptilian scales.
Contrastingly
coloured red stitching and a titanium pronged buckle complete the attractive wristband.
High-Speed Precision
The
TimeWalker Chronograph 100 epitomizes high performance, inventive
mechanisms and precision engineering. The horizontally satin-finished
flange along the dial’s circumference is calibrated with a
100thsof-a-second scale and printed with a red “100” at “12 o’clock”.
The
dial is fabricated from transparent sapphire crystal and offers an
unobstructed view of newly developed manufactory
Calibre MB M66.25. An
especially interesting detail here is the column wheel with its wolf’s
teeth at “12 o’clock” which advances by one increment each time the
chronograph pusher is triggered; as well as the components of the
bidirectional winding mechanism at 3 o`clock. The ordinary time of day
or night is displayed on an anthracite-grey hour-scale framed in silver.
This scale is interrupted by a disc of sapphire crystal printed with a
scale for the continually running seconds at “9 o’clock” and by the
chronograph’s counter for 60 elapsed seconds and 15 elapsed minutes at
“6 o’clock”. Like the hands on all
TimeWalker chronographs, the
hour-hand and minute-hand are lanceolate and inlaid with strongly
luminous Superluminova. The significance of the chronograph function is
clearly understandable when one scrutinizes the 100thsof-a-second scale
and the counters for 60 elapsed seconds and 15 elapsed minutes.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... ► BIG FOTO
The
large trotteuse, which is made of lightweight aluminium is coated with
red lacquer; it completes one rotation per second to precisely indicate
the measured time to the nearest 100th of a second. The counter at “6
o’clock” is a transparent disc of sapphire crystal marked with two
concentric scales, each of which is swept by its own skeletonised
lanceolate hand: the longer black hand progresses along the outer scale,
which is marked with Arabic numerals for 60 elapsed seconds; the
shorter red hand slowly advances along the inner scale, which is
calibrated for 15 elapsed minutes. The screwed titanium back bears a
scratch-resistant pane of sapphire crystal, through which connoisseurs
can admire the movement’s complexity and its exclusive decorations. The
large, massy, screw balance oscillates uninterruptedly and at the
comparatively leisurely frequency of 2.5 hertz; the smaller balance
begins
vibrating at twenty times this speed when the chronograph is switched
on. Together, these two balances show how
Montblanc’s watchmakers have
conjoined the aesthetic perfection of the mechanisms and the greatest
precision.
In the
TimeWalker Chronograph 100,
Montblanc has
united innovative constructions, modern material technologies,
uncompromising striving toward the utmost performance and traditional
manufacture craftsmanship.
The
Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph
100 will become available starting in the autumn of
2014. It will be
produced in a strictly
limited series of
100 timepieces, each of which
will sell for a retail price of
€ 50,000.
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TECHINCAL SPECIFICATIONS
Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph 100
Movement
Manufacture calibre
MB M66-25
Type of movement Manually wound movement with chronograph; one balance for the time indication and a separate balance for the chronograph
Chronograph Monopusher mechanism with column-wheel, button between the horns at “12 o’clock”
Displays (watch) Hours and minutes from the centre, subdial for the seconds at “9 o’clock”
Displays (chronograph)
Hundredths of a second from the centre (one revolution per second);
Concentric counters for 60 elapsed seconds and 15 elapsed minutes at “6
o’clock”
Dimensions Diameter = 38.4 mm, height = 7,63 mm
Number of components 377
Number of rubies 37
Power reserve
Ca. 100 hours for the going train, ca 45 minutes for the chronograph
Balance (going train) Screw balance, diameter = 11,4 mm; 26 mgcm2
Frequency going train) 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour (2.5 hertz)
Hairspring (going train) With Phillips terminal curvature
Balance (chronograph) Smooth hoop; diameter = 6 mm;
Frequency (chronograph) 360,000 semi-oscillations per hour (50 hertz)
Hairspring (chronograph) Flat
Plate Rhodium-plated nickel silver with circular graining on both sides
Bridges Rhodium-plated nickel silver with côtes de Genève decoration
Gear-train Gold-plated wheels with faceted spokes, hubs with polished centres
Case
Material mix consisting of titanium, stainless steel and carbon fibre
Crystal above dial Cambered sapphire crystal
Bezel Stainless steel coated with black DLC
Middle piece (carrure) Titanium sheathed by a cocoon o carbon fibre
Back of case Screwed titanium back with inset pane of sapphire crystal
Crown Titanium with inlaid Montblanc emblem made of mother-of-pearl
Dial
Sapphire crystal with several functional levels,
continually running
seconds shown on a disc of sapphire crystal at the “9 o’clock”,
inclined flange with scale for 1/100ths of a second
Dimensions Diameter = 45.6 mm, height = 15.48 mm
Watertightness To 30 meters
Hands
Rhodium-plated hour-hand and minute-hand with Superluminova;
skeletonised, black lacquered hand for 60 elapsed seconds;
skeletonised,
red lacquered hand for 15 elapsed minutes;
red lacquered hand for
1/100ths of a second
Wristband
Black alligator-skin, hand sewn with contrasting red stitching;
pronged buckle made of titanium
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