BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Let it by no means be stated that the watch manufacturers of the world sat on their laurels and had somewhat relaxation originally of 2023. Subsequent as much as debut a brand new watch inside the first month of the yr is Montblanc, extra identified for its pens and leather-based items than its watches. Montblanc has an interesting historical past of wristwatches and owns Minerva, a historic maker of chronograph watches and actions.
It’s somewhat tough to pinpoint exactly how Montblanc locations itself within the watch trade for the rationale talked about above. Its Minerva-powered watches can command five-figure costs with ease, however then we get extra cheap watches like the topic of right this moment’s article: the 1858 Iced Sea Minya Konka Restricted Version. This one is priced at S$5500, about USD$4150.
To recap, the Iced Sea vary is a set {of professional} diving watches from Montblanc. Diving watches are a highly regarded class, and we’d argue that every one manufacturers at this worth degree ought to have one. Up till now, the Iced Sea vary, with its beautiful hand-finished dials, has been paying tribute to the Mer de Glace, a glacier within the French Alps which is part of Mont Blanc. Mount Gongga, often known as Minya Konka, has the third-highest peak on the earth exterior of the Himalayas, and has the best peak in China’s Sichuan province. Sure, that’s the place Sichuan sauce comes from, I checked. Anyway, in accordance with the mountain’s Wikipedia article, Minya Konka has a a lot greater demise price than Mount Everest regardless of the peak distinction, owing to the difficult construction close to the summit. The purple of this watch type of symbolises the hazard of the mountain, though it formally represents the gorgeous purple night skies over Minya Konka.
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That shouldn’t be an issue for the Iced Sea, although. It’s constructed to resist 300m of depth because of its 41mm chrome steel case. The again of the case has a colored show of Minya Konka within the night twilight, which is particularly spectacular contemplating that is an engraving with color. The Chinese language textual content interprets to “The Auspicious Pink Clouds of Mount Gongga”. Behind that caseback is the self-winding MB24.17 calibre, which relies on a Sellita SW200. It has a 4Hz beat price and a 38-hour energy reserve.
A black and purple rubber strap is on supply, with a stainless-steel bracelet accessible too. The short change system is a pleasant contact, too. Restricted to 285 fashions solely, this watch is on the market for retail sale in China, Malaysia and Singapore solely.
