Montblanc Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses
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Montblanc Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses
On the 150th jubilee of the establishment of former traditional watchmaking manufacture Minerva, the newly founded Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie is now ensconced in completely renovated premises in Villeret and presents two new timepieces from the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858.
Just in time for the 150th anniversary of the founding from the watchmaking manufacture Minerva, extensive renovations at the premises in the newly founded Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie in Rue Principale in Villeret were completed in October 2008. Refurbishment took almost one and a half years and the idea was, wherever possible, to retain everything worth preserving and to ensure that the historic foundations of the traditional watchmaking company were as well equipped to deal with the future as they have been over the past 150 years. As a result, the actual renovated building contains solid oak floorboards and herringbone parquet that is well over a century old. The windows, on the other hand, were replaced by modern double-glazed versions, although here too the particular frames and mullions are exact replicas of their historical forebears. The inner double windows were retained and put back into their original places after repainting. The actual electrical infrastructure and the IT systems have been replaced in their entirety. The particular machinery, of course , remained untouched; apart from state-of-the-art CNC as well as wire-erosion systems, there is a wealth of machines many years old, which would normally be found only in a museum. The the making of watch work-shops, too, where some of the tools, machines and measuring instruments look extremely antiquated, remained basically untouched. Watchmakers tend to get used to their work-benches – known in the trade as ‚établis‘ – and are generally prepared to give up the things they are familiar with only if it is impossible to retain them.
The most conspicuous change in the entire renovation took place on the attic floor, where the entire middle section of typically the gable roof has given way to a glazed atrium; this has blended in so perfectly with the existing structure that it appears always to have been there. It is a kind of penthouse, with a narrow balcony on the street side where in future journalists, visitors and, above all, customers can be received who have come to pick up their watch from the Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 personally. Now that often the renovations tend to be finished, the building remains a perfect reflection on the way the company works: a place in which tradition and innovation harmonise perfectly.
New: balance spring production at the Institut de Minerva en Information en Luxurious Horlogerie
But not only house itself underwent renovation. As part of the extensive work of refurbishment, the watch manufacturing company set up a new workshop that has enabled it to fulfil a dream, with the resources that will equip it to make its own stability springs from start to finish. This has made the exact Institut Minerva de Instruction en Meilleur Horlogerie one of the most exclusive view manufacturers in the world, because only a handful of leading watch-makers still have the very wherewithal to do this. Since the organization in Villeret also produces key components such as the equilibrium, pallets and also escape wheel in its own workshops, it means the Institut is able to tailor-make complete sets of parts for each movement without external assistance.
The only item outsourced is the raw material for the balance wire. This is made of an alloy that is ideally suited to the needs of large balances with a frequency of 18, 000 bph. The untreated wire is drawn through increasingly fine templates until it has been attenuated to the desired diameter of less than 1/10 mm, each pass reducing its thickness by about 15%. Extremely good diameters like this call for a very sure hand and necessarily reduce the speed at which the main wire could be pulled to the stately pace of a few centimetres per minute. After several hours, once the cable has reached the required thinness, it is rolled flat between polished steel cylinders until it finally has the final rectangular cross-section required for the purpose. At this point the material is ready, but there remains much to be done until the harmony spring that will breathe life into one associated with Montblanc‘s exclusive watch movements is complete. To achieve this, a piece of the finished wire some 10 cm in length is actually hand-twisted into a spiral shape, undergoes a special tempering process and is fixed in its last form. The manufacturers prefer not to disclose any further details of the techniques involved, pointing out merely thatthey have invested many years in perfecting the individual processes. Now the organization is able to produce some of the most unique balance springs available, and these are destined for use solely in the exquisite timepieces that comprise the Montblanc Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses Collection Villeret 1858.
Typically the Institut Minerva de Observation en Grande Horlogerie: Where manufacture still means ‚made by hand‘
There are only a handful of enjoy manufactures in the whole world able to cover the watch-making spectrum that extends from the art of handmade watches according to old Swiss tradition through to the state-of-the-art engineering behind the industry of today. One of these is the Institut Minerva hun Recherche durante Haute Clocks, which has grown out of the small , exclusive class that was once Minerva. The company was founded within 1858 within the village regarding Villeret inside the Jura and very soon began specialising in the production of chronographs of the very highest quality. Only very few see manufacturers can still look back on such a long, uninterrupted history, and over the years Minerva has held fast towards the working methods traditionally associated with Swiss horological industry at its best. It is none other than the art of traditional haute horlogerie, which is carried out largely by hand. Only a very small number of master watchmakers today have the knowledge along with expertise needed for this extremely rare in addition to exclusive form of watchmaking. Important components such as the generously sized balance, with its high moment of inertia, are made in-house. The company also produces its own tailor-made sense of balance springs plus counts their active length using old, traditional techniques, while the mise en fonction of the chronograph control will be carried out meticulously by hand for each individual motion. There are no longer many observe manufacturers who are able to produce such vital elements for their watches by hand, using traditional strategies. In 2007, in order to preserve its authenticity, Minerva joined forces with Montblanc, that is equally devoted to preserving and even practising handed-down manufacturing traditions in all its business activities. As a result, the Institut Minerva een Recherche hierdoor Haute Horlogerie was founded. Montblanc thus makes an enormous contribution towards keeping a unique type of expertise alive and preserving this invaluable expertise for posterity. Often the unwavervan cleef arpels watch replica
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ing commitment of the Institut Minerva fuente Recherche en hel Haute Clocks to handcrafted watchmaking makes it the perfect partner for Montblanc Montre SA in Le Locle, which recently designed and produced its own movements developed entirely in-house. The exact chronograph activity: an achievement that has firmly established it as a watchmakers‘ workshop, successfully blending the ability of traditional watch-making with the creation methods of the actual 21st century. |
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