It's Complicated A Mighty Morphin' Montblanc With Hidden Complications

Although Montblanc in recent years has developed a fairly impressive reputation for a value-driven approach to complicated Swiss watchmaking (such as in the new Heritage Manufacture Perpetual Calendar), the brand isn't afraid to pull out the horological big guns every so often. And that's exactly what we've seen at Watches & Wonders 2021, with the debut of the fourth-generation Montblanc Metamorphosis.

Watches are no stranger to transformative allusions. Just look at the motif of a butterfly. Andreas Strehler has made it the defining element of the watches that bear his name. Frederique Constant just showed off an incredibly impressive, high-frequency silicon escapement in the form of a butterfly. And so on. But none of those watches undergo a physical transformation to the same extent as that of the Montblanc Metamorphosis.

Montblanc channels its metamorphosis through a shutter system that opens and closes a pair of apertures on the dial at six and 12 o'clock. When closed, you'll fine an extra-large rhodium-coated balance wheel, measuring 14.5 mm in diameter, with blued hairspring and 18 screws (and ticks at a leisurely 2.5 Hz) placed on top of a seconds hand (take note of this position, it will come up later). At six o'clock, there's a traditional 24-hour world-time disc that correlates to a three-dimensional domed globe. It's hand-painted to illustrate the Northern hemisphere and indicate a passive display of the world's time-zones (plus day/night indication). There's also a sliding lever built into the left side of the case that, when actuated similar to how you might a repeater, initiates a physical transformation.

By depressing the lever, the dial opens up at both six and 12 o'clock – very much presto-chango style. A 12 o'clock plate opens up to reveal Montblanc's patented one-minute Exo Tourbillon, held in place by a sapphire crystal bridge, which drives the small seconds display. There's also a hidden date display to the right of the tourbillon that's only visible when the tourbillon is exposed. At six o'clock, the dial shutter doesn't open entirely like the surprise tourbillon at 12 o'clock, but instead reveals a hyper-realistic orrery moon-phase display with a three-dimensional Moon representation placed in its the correct position, which gyroscopically turns constantly around the Earth, just as it does in real life. To top it off, Montblanc has rendered the night sky through an aventurine backdrop.

Whew. This is some serious watchmaking.

I've got to say, writing about a large, highly complicated, and quite literally over-engineered watch really has me missing in-person trade shows. One takes for granted the opportunity to see watches like the Metamorphosis 8 in person. With that kind of limited production, it really is like seeing a concept watch come to life, and you typically don't get a second chance to see one of these watches a second time before they're swept into the collections of the upper crust.

Montblanc's Metamorphosis watches have had an interesting evolution over the past decade-plus. This is the, I believe, fourth member of a highly limited series that dates back to 2010. Developed by a watchmaker named Frederic Kehrli for Montblanc and assembled by hand at the high-end Minerva manufacture in Villeret, the Metamorphosis concept started life as an interesting sporty chronograph hybrid, was then dressed up and updated in 2014 in a more formal execution, before being reimagined at SIHH 2019 to its current layout of central hour and minutes, three-dimensional world-time display (likely influenced by the Geosphere's success) with moon-phase, and the Exo Tourbillon. Today's release builds on that 2019 watch (it uses the same movement) with a new, striking blue colorway that highlights the watch's innovative travel-time concept.

The current Metamorphosis is interesting in how it combines two of Montblanc's most innovative horological developments of the 21st century. You, of course, have the patented shutter system, but its hidden tourbillon with visible balance wheel execution wouldn't be possible without the Exo Tourbillon, which allows the balance to operate directly above the tourbillon (hence the "Exo" nomenclature). The Exo Tourbillon, in the new Metamorposis, is composed of over 100 components by itself, working in conjunction with the 700-plus hand-finished pieces that make up the Montblanc Manufacture caliber MB M67.60

It's enormously intellectually satisfying to examine a watch at the level of the Star Legacy Metamorphosis. Even if the design doesn't speak to you or it's too large for your wrist (which at 50mm × 18.9mm, is probably most of us), there is, in my opinion, still something genuinely compelling about these watches as an exercise in horological engineering. Where I typically might look toward Greubel Forsey or Ferdinand Berthoud during the SIHH/Watches & Wonders period, Montblanc is more than holding down the fort in 2021.

To phrase it more succinctly: While I didn't expect to see this watch come from Montblanc during Watches & Wonders 2021, I'm sure glad it did.

Brand: Montblanc  
Model: Star Legacy Metamorphosis Limited Edition 8
Reference Number: MB 117861

Diameter: 50mm
Thickness: 18.9mm
Case Material: 18k white gold, polished case; 18k white-gold crown with mother-of-pearl Montblanc emblem
Dial Color: Blue base with hand-made grain d'orge guilloché pattern in places, 18k white-gold hour and minute hands, stainless steel seconds hand, filet sauté guilloché around the dial, hand-engraved and hand-painted three-dimensional northern hemisphere globe showing the continents and oceans, aventurine disc representing the sky with the moon and stars
Indexes: Applied, rhodium-coated Arabic numerals
Lume: N/A
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Blue Sfumato alligator strap with 18k white gold triple folding clasp

Caliber: Montblanc Manufacture Calibre MB M67.60
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, patented one-minute Exo Tourbillon, world-time, moon-phase
Diameter: 45mm
Thickness: 12.87mm
Power Reserve: Approximately 50 hours
Winding: Manual wind
Frequency: 18,800 vph
Jewels: 61
Chronometer Certified: N/A
Additional Details: Certified by the Montblanc Laboratory Test 500; balance wheel measures 14.5 mm in diameter; 718 total components

Price: $253,500.00
Availability: May 2021
Limited Edition: Yes, eight pieces.

As you may know, the HODINKEE Shop is an Authorized Dealer for Montblanc, so if you're looking to pick one up, don't forget to check the Shop.