Introducing The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Messner Limited Edition

Imagine yourself in a pitch meeting. You're sitting in the offices of a mountain-themed watch brand that mostly specializes in pens. You know they want to create a limited edition watch with inspiration from the world of mountaineering, and all of the junior associates are assembled and champing at the bit. Pitches are being thrown around like gunfire and when the dust settles, the whiteboard is a mess of buzzwords and hopeful hallmarks. As rejection-stained paper is balled up all around you, a small voice from the back cuts through the haze, "What about Reinhold Messner?" Dead silence fills the room and one of the senior execs, a man who had cut his teeth in the US at the turn of the century, leans forward and replies "the guy from the Ben Folds Five album?" The small voice grows, "Well, um kind of, yes – but let me explain". 

To those now scratching their heads, allow me to clarify. While yes, Reinhold Messner's name was inadvertently used for the title of Ben Folds Five's truly wonderful 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner – he is also one of the great alpinists of all time. Though the members of BFF later said they weren't aware that Messner's name was that of a real person's (let alone an all-star of the world's highest peaks), it's a name we should all know. He was the first person to summit Everest solo and the first (along with his climbing partner Peter Habeler) to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen (there is a great watch story here, but that's for another time). This was a feat once believed to be impossible and was essentially the 4-minute mile of mountaineering at the time. 

Not enough? Reinhold Messner was also the first person to climb all fourteen 8,000+ meter (~26,200 feet) peaks in the world. He was part of a two-man team to be the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland on foot, and later on, at the age of 60, he solo crossed the 2,000 km of the Gobi desert. He also created his own take on "The Seven Summits," which prioritized the greatest challenge to the climber. Still want more? Wikipedia says he has written 80 books (I've not read them all, but "My Life At The Limit" is a great read). Now in his 70s, Messner is a celebrated icon of alpinism, a hugely successful author and speaker, and the founder of the Messner Mountain Museum and the Messner Foundation – all while most of us have been microwaving grandma's apple pie and thinking a lot today about taking our screenplay to LA (fair warning, this is likely not my last BFF reference). In short, Michael Jordan is the Reinhold Messner of basketball. Oh, and Messner recently helped make a new limited edition for Montblanc. 

Ok, so now that I've made an attempt to compress the life of one of the greatest athletes of all time into just a few paragraphs, let's get to the watch, the new Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Messner Limited Edition. Representing a simple limited edition with an uncommon amount of synergy with its greater source of inspiration, the base of the watch is the 42mm bronze form of the 1858 Geosphere, but with a deeply blue colorway, rose-gold accents, and hemispheres marked with red dots for the Seven Summits (the highest peak on each of the seven continents). 

Fitted to a dark blue nylon NATO-style strap, the bronze is a strong match for the rich blue tones of the dial (which has a gradient finish) and the ceramic bezel insert. Functionality is unchanged from the standard 1858 Geosphere, with an eye-catching mix of function (date at three and a second time-zone at nine) and traditional embellishment via the pair of rotating global hemispheres that function as a sort of world-time display and as an AM/PM indication. 

This specific sort of contrast between sporting function and old-world watch design is what makes the 1858 line stand out, and it's also a distinctly Montblanc take on the idea of nu-vintage, especially when rendered in bronze. Furthermore, as a limited edition produced in partnership with a septuagenarian alpinist, I think the whole thing kinda works as a stately and functionally ornate reminder of the passions that guided Messner into, and through, his life in the alpine. Much of this is also suggested by the caseback, which shows an engraving of Mont Blanc (the mountain is two words, the brand is one), a compass, a pair of crossed pick-axes, Messner's own signature, and the name of each peak in "Messner's List" (that's his take on the Seven Summits challenge, which swaps the more tame ascent of Mount Kosciuszko with the more considerable challenge of Puncak Jaya, which is found in Indonesia and tops out at 4,884 meters).  

While not a new watch, or even a considerable departure from the standard steel 1858 Geosphere ($6,100) or the green and bronze similarity of the 1858 Geosphere Limited Edition ($6,500 and limited to 1858 pieces), the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Messner Limited Edition does stand out by offering a new colorway, the limited production of just 262 units, and the tie-in with Messner – all while keeping the price point at $6,500. 

And while I struggle to find a way to frame that price against a joke about what Ben Folds paid for his three sad semesters, and I could offer deep cynicism towards the concept of brand spokespeople, Messner is a legend, and they are only making 262 of these, so why make mountains out of molehills. It's not like I would climb them anyway. I'd drop out and join a band instead. 

Brand: Montblanc
Model: 1858 Geosphere Messner Limited Edition
Reference Number: 126361

Diameter: 42mm
Thickness: 12.8mm
Case Material: Bronze
Dial Color: Blue gradient
Indexes: Painted
Lume: Yes
Water Resistance: 100 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Blue nylon NATO with bronze-coated steel pin buckle

Caliber: MB 29.25
Functions: Hours, minutes, date, second time-zone, rotating northern/southern hemispheres with day/night indication
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 28,800 vph
Jewels: 26

Price: $6,500
Limited Edition: 262 pieces

For more, click here.