First revealed in 2014, the Montblanc Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum watch has been crafted in three configurations with the first version coming in blue and stainless steel, the second in brown and rose gold, and the third in a green limited edition for the United Arab Emirates. This new Montblanc Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum watch, with its in-house world-time complication, attests to Montblanc’s expertise in creating practical and easy-to-use complications in a classical and contemporary fine watchmaking style.
For 2022, Montblanc has chosen a black and grey dial with rose gold-coated continents and meridians for a new warm color scheme for today’s sophisticated international citizens.
The term “Diviso Orbis Terrarum” comes from the Latin for “circuit of the world” and was the name given to a world map created by the Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in the first century AD. Agrippa needed a practical map that could be used for military purposes. Disregarding the elaborate maps previously made by the Greeks, he decided to create a round world map based on surveys of the extensive system of military roads running throughout the Roman empire. The map was sent to all the great cities in the empire, and even if no known copies are believed to have survived, this passion for maps and representations of our planet lives on in the Montblanc Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum world-time watch, with a complication that indicates 24 time zones at a glance.
The watch is equipped with a 43 mm stainless case and the dial features an upper sapphire crystal rotating disc with applied three-dimensional rose gold-coated Northern Hemisphere continents and meridians surrounded by the 24 cities of the 24 time zones, a day and night rotating disc that turns under the sapphire crystal disc with two-tones of grey, ‘waves’ decoration —called flinqué-froissé guilloché— in its center surrounded by the 24 hour indication, grey flange with rose gold-coated luminescent applied dot minute markers, rose gold-coated luminescent leaf hour and minute hands.
The watch is delivered on a grey sfumato alligator leather strap with a semi-matte finish with stainless steel triple-folding clasp.
The Montblanc Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum is powered by the MB 29.20 automatic calibre with a Manufacture world-time complication and a power reserve of approximately 42 hours. This movement features a conveniently located pusher at 8 o’clock. Once set, the user only has to press on this pusher until the reference city is at the top. The hour and minute hands will automatically synchronize to indicate the time in the city of choice. There is also a day/night indicator that works with a rotating disc that changes from light grey —for daylight hours— to dark grey —for the night— giving an overview of the passage of the sun around the planet in a practical and intuitive way.
Way back in the late 1800s, the watch to own was the classic Minerva timepiece. Named for the goddess of farming, craftsmanship, and science, the Minerva was the work of the H. & C. Robert company. Fast forward a couple of centuries, and Minerva was acquired by the parent company of Montblanc. In the ensuing decades, the Swiss company has been carefully studying the masterpieces that were made under the Minerva name. Using what they have learned, Montblanc recently released the Montblanc Star Legacy, watch family.