Montblanc has unveiled a new range of watches in its vintage-inspired neo-classical style Heritage collection. Inspired by the mid-20th century watches made by Minerva, this new collection is headlined by this gorgeous chronograph, the Heritage Pulsograph Limited Edition 100.
Limited to just 100 timepieces, this timepiece is a variation of the salmon dialled chronograph that was unveiled last year. It features a pulsograph scale and uses a 40 mm 18K rose gold case that is 12.65 mm thick. A pulsograph or pulsometer was a standard feature of ‘doctor’s watches’ and featured a scale on the edge of the dial that helped physicians check a patient’s heart rate. A feature of some chronographs in the 1930s and 1940s, the pulsograph recently has ridden in the slipstream of vintage revival watches and has been seen on a few retro-revivals, notably the Omega Speedmaster CK2998 at Baselworld 2018.
The watch has a gorgeous tobacco brown dial with several design nods to Minerva timepieces from the 1940s and 50s. The dial has two different finishes; 18K rose gold applied Arabic numerals and dots for indexes; 18 K rose gold dauphine hour and minute hands applied with Super-LumiNova and 18K rose gold baton hands for the chronograph registers. The minutes subdial at 3 o’ clock has three distinct markers at 3, 6 and 9 minutes of the scale, a hat tip to the old-school international payphone indications. The minutes counter reminded phone users to feed coins into the payphone slot to continue their call. The dial also has a gilt doctor’s pulsograph scale graduated for 30 pulsations.
The watch is powered by the manufacture monopusher chronograph caliber MB M13.21 visible through the caseback. The movement has rose gold-coated plated bridges to match the case and has a column wheel construction with horizontal coupling, a variable inertia balance and a hairspring with a Philips terminal curve. It beats at 3.5 Hz and is features high-quality finishing that Minerva movements are noted for. Paired with a matching tobacco-brown Sfumato alligator strap, it is priced at €36,000.
