Here is our short video, which we have compiled pleasant moments from our visit to the factory of Montblanc, one of the rising stars of luxury watchmaking, in Villeret - Switzerland.
Before moving on to our video, let's take a short trip to the past of the brand.
The Montblanc watchmaking story began in 1858, when Charles-Yvan Robert founded his workshop in Villeret, in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Though he didn’t realize it at the time, this marked the beginning of the historic Minerva era. Over the century-and-a-half that followed, Minerva would become one of the world’s leading specialists in precision chronometry for professionals.
By the 1880s, the manufacture had built a solid reputation for innovation with pocket watches that were wound with the crown, leaving traditional winding keys behind. And that was just the beginning. Minerva then turned its focus to precision timing, becoming a leading specialist in the fabrication of professional pocket watches and stopwatches.
It began with a line of monopusher chronographs, culminating in 1916 with the production of a stopwatch accurate to 1/100th of a second. Just a few years later Minerva invented the caliber 13.20, one of the first manually wound monopusher chronographs ever developed for wristwatches, marking a new chapter in the manufacture’s history. Around a decade later, the legendary caliber 17.29 made its debut – one of the slimmest monopusher chronographs, measuring just 5.6 mm in height.
The original Minerva ateliers remain abuzz with activity, today serving as the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret. Every movement component is still carefully crafted and decorated by hand, even including the balance springs. The manufacture is one of a very select few around the world in which the watchmakers have the know-how to produce their own balance springs entirely by hand.
