Page 212 - The Bite Magazine - Spring Summer 2013

bitemen watches
The quiet Swiss village nestled in
the St. Imier valley may have been
sleepy at the time but the ambition
and drive that was to come out
of it, certainly was not. In 1858, 18-year-
old Charles-Yvan Robert established the
H. & C. Robert watchmaking company
in Villeret, the forerunner of the
Montblanc legacy, to fulfil his ambition
of producing top-quality timepieces
to represent the best in Swiss
watchmaking.The name ‘Minerva’,
registered by the company in
1878, would go on to produce
high-quality watches, initially with
bought movements and other
parts that won awards at the
World Exhibitions in Antwerp
(1885) and Paris (1889).Their own
start-to-finish produced movements
in 1902, and the beginning of their
revolutionary journey in advanced
watchmaking came with the introduction
of the first chronograph in 1908, the
calibre 19.9 that had a 19” movement
and was initially available as a pocket
watch. Soon, the pocket watch would
evolve into wristwatch-size movements
with diameters as small as 27mm and the
introduction of the calibre 13.20 in 1923,
their greatest achievement to date, which
would cement the company’s reputation
as a manufacturer of complicated
chronograph movements of outstanding
quality.
In 2007, Montblanc joined forces
with Minerva to become Montblanc’s
Manufacture Villeret. The name meaning
‘White Mountain’ represents a
philosophy of excellence inspired
by the highest mountain in Europe
and is evident in their outstanding
craftsmanship and timeless
aesthetics. Not only does their
latest line of timepieces uphold
the company’s traditional values
but it also explores the frontiers of
fine watchmaking. Since its beginning,
the creation of innovative timepieces
has been borne in the picturesque Swiss
villages of Le Locle and Villeret. In Le
Locle, exquisite masterpieces can be seen,
for example, in the Montblanc Nicolas
Rieussec Collection, an anniversary edition
:
THESUMMITOF
KNOWN AS TIME WRITERS OF EXQUISITE
WATCHES, RENOWNED SWISS WATCHMAKER
MONTBLANC HAS AN INTERESTING PASTAND
AN EVER EXCITING COLLECTION OF UNIQUE
TIMEPIECES AS JADA BROOKES DISCOVERS.
Images courtesy of Sidhu and Simon Ltd