Montblanc introduced the Orbis Terrarum collection, featuring a worldtimer, in 2014 as part of its Heritage Spirit collection. The collection was originally called the Meisterstück Heritage, named after Montblanc's signature luxury fountain pen. In 2020, the model was revamped and reborn as the refined Montblanc Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum.
Text by Mark Bernardo
"Montblanc Star Legacy Orbistellarum"
The Star Legacy watch collection, which follows the Montblanc Heritage and Montblanc 1858 as a core pillar of Montblanc, borrows many of its design elements from the historic Minerva pocket watches, including the circular case, leaf hands, and large onion-shaped crown. Another distinctive feature is the guilloched pattern that expands outward from the five-pointed star that is the Montblanc emblem.
In 2020, the collection was expanded with two new models, following the Star Legacy Automatic Date and Star Legacy Chronograph Day Date: one with a blue stainless steel case and the other with a brown rose gold case.
Named "Orbis Terrarum," which means "heaven," "earth," or "world" in Latin, this model features a 43mm case and an intuitively readable world time function. The dial depicts the Northern Hemisphere as seen from the North Pole, like a world map. The 24 cities surrounding it represent the 24 time zones. The 24-hour display is divided into day and night time zones, using shades of blue on the steel model and shades of brown on the rose gold model. Montblanc designed this world time mechanism so that the time zone can be set simultaneously with the time adjustment using a monopusher. The local time zone is indicated by a red triangle at 12 o'clock.
The design of the previous model, released in 2014, has been revised to improve legibility. The dial consists of two horizontally stacked discs that rotate in sync with the movement's timing. The upper disc features a rhodium-plated sapphire crystal rotating disc featuring a map of the Northern Hemisphere and meridians. Beneath this disc is a day/night disc, whose color changes from light to dark blue or brown as the world's time zones change from day to night. The center features a radial guilloched design called flinqué decoration, revealing a 3D wave pattern through the transparent portion of the upper disc, representing the sea.
The watch is powered by Montblanc's automatic caliber MB 29.20, which allows for easy world time adjustment. Use the pusher at 8 o'clock to adjust the city ring so that the local time zone is positioned under the red triangle at 12 o'clock. Then, pull out the crown and adjust the hour and minute hands to match the time zone. The other 23 time zones will then be displayed appropriately on the dial. Once the hands are correctly aligned, adjusting the time zone while traveling is easy; simply press the pusher at 8 o'clock to change the local time in one-hour increments. The city ring, day/night indicator, and continents relative to the North Pole will then move accordingly. Both the blue and brown models come with a matching sfumato leather strap crafted in Montblanc's leather workshop in Florence, Italy.
Contact info: Montblanc Contact Center Tel. 0120-39-4810
