On the subject of high-quality watchmaking, it may appear gauche to name any watch particularly “lavish” however that might be a good one-word description of the Montblanc Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles Restricted Version. Along with a veritable essay of a reputation, the watch communicates how particular it’s in nothing lower than operatic tones simply by seems alone. Simply take a look at it and also you would possibly swear you hear Lully. We are going to return to that reference shortly however, even in such a spectacle of a watch, there’s nothing troublesome to sum in just a few phrases. This can be a time-only watch with a really particular interpretation of the tourbillon – patented by the Montblanc manufacture at Villeret – that options numerous conventional ornamental arts.
With the unadorned information out of the way in which, we are able to launch into the promised Lully arias. The Montblanc Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles Restricted Version, which we’ll name the Exo Tourbillon Versailles for brief, is a lavish ode to 18th-century French court docket life. As talked about, it’s a masterpiece that appears its half all the way down to the micron.
Restricted to only eight items, this Métiers d’Artwork marvel celebrates “Le Bal des Ifs” (The Yew Tree Ball)—probably the most legendary masked ball of 1745 that you simply by no means heard of hosted by King Louis XV on the Palace of Versailles. It was at this occasion, held within the glittering Corridor of Mirrors (itself a feat of outstanding artistry), that the king, disguised as a yew tree (no joke), is alleged to have secretly courted the lady who would grow to be the Marquise de Pompadour. This occasion has every part to do with the seems of the watch and its stupendous identify.
The watch’s dial masterfully reinterprets the Corridor of Mirrors on that evening, drawing inspiration from a 1746 etching by Charles-Nicolas Cochin I. The dial base is crafted from white gold, coated in black enamel and sprinkled with gold paillons that evoke the shimmer of candlelight that might have been mirrored within the corridor’s 357 mirrors.
Architectural particulars are recreated in meticulous marquetry, with archways usual from Cacholong opal and Sarrancolin marble — the identical kind of marble sourced for the Seventeenth-century palace itself. An inlay of strong oak replicates the long-lasting parquet ground. Layered above that is an etched sapphire crystal disc depicting the ballroom’s grand chandeliers and the mysterious, costumed dancers, together with the aforementioned yew timber on the left aspect of the dial.
At 12 o’clock, a subdial for the hours and minutes remembers the Baroque clocks of Louis XIV’s period. A backdrop of white champlevé enamel is framed by a laser-machined 3N gold ring impressed by Versailles’ brass décor. At its centre sits a micro-sculpted brass Apollo head — the symbol of the Solar King — created from a 3D scan of a motif on a door within the palace’s Salon de Vénus.
The complete scene is anchored by the proprietary Suspended Exo Tourbillon. First launched in 2010, its distinctive structure separates the massive screw steadiness from the tourbillon cage, positioning it 3.2 mm above the dial the place it seems to hover in house. The Exo Tourbillon’s cage makes one revolution per minute, serving as a working seconds show. The big 14.5mm steadiness wheel, fitted with 18 screws, oscillates at a conventional 18,000 vibrations per hour and is held aloft by a single, gracefully curved bridge of hand-engraved, gold-coated chrome steel.
The yellow gold case is a murals in itself, accurately, given the character of the Exo Tourbillon Versailles. The bezel is hand-engraved with a laurel wreath, a logo of Apollo, whereas the caseband options an intricate engraving of a portray by François Lemoyne. This scene, from the Salon de la Paix at Versailles, depicts Louis XV as a peacemaker, flanked by the Roman deities Minerva and Mercury.
Powering the timepiece is the manual-winding calibre MB M16.68, composed of 218 elements and providing a 50-hour energy reserve. The sapphire caseback reveals the masterful hand-finishing for which the Villeret artisans are famend, together with Côtes de Genève, round graining and sharp inside anglage.
Finishing the presentation, the watch is housed in an expensive musical field crafted by Parisian table-maker Elie Bleu. That includes a mechanism by Swiss specialist Reuge, the field performs a melody by Jean-Philippe Rameau that was introduced on the 1745 royal wedding ceremony, all whereas the watch rotates as if dancing on the ball.
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