Montblanc’s 200th Anniversary Tribute To The ‘Time Writer’

The decade of the 1820s was one of the most prosperous in Nicolas Mathieu’s life (1781 – 1866), the sixth royal watchmaker to the King of France. On September 1, 1821, Nicolas Rieussec was at the Champ-de-Mars Arrondissement de la Seine race in Paris, not as a spectator but as a watchmaker testing a “chronometer intended to consistently measure the time horses take to travel the prescribed race distances—not only the winning horse, but also all those that cross the line after it”. It worked using a fixed nib that would place a black mark on two rotating counters the moment each horse crossed the finish line. Few weeks later, he presented his new invention to the country’s Academy of Sciences in Paris that called it a “chronograph,” taken from the Greek “chronos” for time and “graphein” to write.

The word chronograph was born and Nicolas Rieussec became the inventor of the world’s first inking chronograph, marking the history of fine watch making. The principle of the rotating dials was the inspiration for the design and the movement of the new Montblanc Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Limited Edition 200 and gives the watch its unmistakable appearance.

The complex dial is composed of six different parts providing a 3-dimensional effect. It has been developed with particular attention paid to the proportions of the aesthetic and horological details.

Inspired by the Rieussec historical device, the base of the dial is made in gold-color with a traditional guilloche grain d’orge decoration. Following the iconic design of the original chronograph, two gold-colored domed rotating chronograph discs, with 60-elasped second on the left and a 30-elapsed minute on the right, are displayed on the lower part of the dial. A blued applied double hand is fixed in between and above them, reminiscent of the historical system that used ink for time measurements.

At 12 o’clock, an off-centre hour- and minute-display features a domed white lacquered hour circle with Roman numerals and a gold-colored sunray finishing in the centre. A second time zone is elegantly displayed by a rhodium-colored open-worked hand and a day and night indication at 9 o’clock.

Paying tribute to the famous chronograph’s inventor, a ring with the Nicolas Rieussec and Homage 200 ans (Tribute to 200 years) inscriptions that have been applied on the outer part of the dial surrounded by a refined filet sauté guilloché decoration. Other details included a date at 6 o’clock with a gold-colour window fixed with blued screws.

The contemporary-shape and classic finishes of the calibre MB R200 can be admired through the sapphire crystal case back. This automatic monopusher chronograph has a column wheel and vertical disc clutch, double barrels, and a power reserve of 72 hours. For this special limited edition, the oscillating weight has been made in gold-coloured with a guillochégrain d’ordecoration and a special engraving with the famous date of the Champ- de-Mars Arrondissement de la Seine race done in Paris on September 1, 1821.