First Look: Montblanc Heritage GMT

Over the past couple of years, Montblanc has been increasingly flexing their Minerva muscles telling people that they are not just a maker of leather products and writing instruments, rather, through the absorption of said company they also have watchmaking know-how that dates back to the late 1800s. And this year at SIHH they have taken this association a step further by offering a new Heritage collection directly inspired by Minerva’s watches of the 1940s and 1950s.

Montblanc has done a pretty damn good job of this. Looking at some of the old watches in Minerva’s portfolio, there is a clear design DNA that has been revived with the Heritage collection. And what’s more, they even brought back this amazing salmon dial which really gives the watches, especially the more affordably priced variants, a look that extends far beyond its price point.

For me the watch that really stands out from this line up of salmon dials is this very handsome Heritage GMT. Who would have thought that the combination of salmon and baby blue would have worked? But this watch definitely pulls it off. The black indices and hands complement the salmon dial, complete with a sunburst centre surrounded by a textured ring, while the GMT hand is clad in this subtle baby blue with a matching 24 hour track on the outermost part of the dial. The best part is, if you take this combination with a leather strap the watch is priced at only MYR12,100.

Sure, unlike most of the GMTs launched this year and the last, Montblanc’s Heritage GMT doesn’t have a rotating bezel but what you get is a very elegant 40mm stainless steel case and in accordance with its vintage inspiration a domed sapphire crystal. The only downside is that the caseback is a solid one, but on the plus side it does have a lovely engraving of the Minerva manufacture.

Case: stainless steel, polished
Case size: 40mm
Thickness: 11.8mm
Movement: Calibre MB 24.05, automatic
Water Resistance: 50m
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Price: MYR12,100

At the lower end of the spectrum there is a three-hand automatic (NO DATE!) that comes in at MYR9,650 and tops out at a limited edition Pulsograph at MYR125,700.