GONE IN 60 SECONDS: The Montblanc Heritage Chronometrie Chronograph Annual Calendar video review

Felix Scholz

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/152204876″]

It’s appropriate that what seemed to be traditional Swiss drummers (with axes as well, weird) appeared on day one of SIHH to make some noise, because, for the third year running, Montblanc are well and truly on the march. They have flat out delivered one of the most impressive SIHH releases straight off the bat, continuing their mission of democratising fine watchmaking with their new Chronograph Annual Calendar.

This is a watch that displays the day, date, month and moonphase, but adds an extra layer of complexity / testosterone in the form of a chronograph. It’s important to note that the calendar on this watch isn’t as complex as Montblanc’s Meisterstück Perpetual Calendar, which is smart enough to take leap years into account. but having said that this is still a highly complicated timepiece. And anyway, that’s like comparing a Mensa member to a genius, so we’re still talking a smart watch in the true (not faddish) sense of the word.

The Chronograph Annual Calendar is a very attractive package – the rose gold case is a well-sized at 42mm and it sits at just under 14mm high on the wrist. This size, along with the modern style of the moonphase indicator, and the large chronograph pushers give this extremely classic combination of complications a masculine edge. Priced at $29,400 AUD this is a compelling proposition for a highly complicated solid gold watch. The even better news is that they’ve also released a version in steel. Find out more in the video above.