Montblanc unveils the first development of the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie

The Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie is dedicated to safeguarding traditional Swiss watchmaking and at the same time to foster young independent talents whose innovative technologies will enrich the art of haute horlogerie.

With the “TimeWriter” concept, Montblanc is opening the Institut and all its resources to talented young watchmakers; providing financial, intellectual and technical support and enabling them to start their own business. Montblanc intends to showcase a new “TimeWriter” project every two years.

Now, just two years after the Institut Minerva was founded, Monblanc unveils its first remarkable project live at the SIHH 2010: the TimeWriter 1: Metamorphosis.

The two inventors, Johnny Girardin and Franck Orny, came up with the idea of a timepiece that could literally and mechanically change its appearance before our very eyes. For over a year, they worked alongside the designers and watchmakers in the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie to transform their initial idea into a watch. Thus was born the Metamorphosis – a watch named for its unique dual function and its innovative process of transformation.

Although the principle of a watch with different functions is nothing entirely new, the way in which the Montblanc Metamorphosis transforms itself from one watch face to the other, has never been seen before. It is a highly complex process, involving 50 individual components that move technically synchronously. The mechanisms involved in this process are so new and innovative that they’ve been registered for patent.

TimeWriter I: One watch – two faces

The first watch of the TimeWriter series, the Metamorphosis, is based on the Montblanc chronograph calibre MBM 16.29 and derives its name from its unique dual functions and faces: By moving a slide down or up, the Metamorphosis changes from simple time indication to a chronograph and vice versa.

The fist face: The Classic Time

In the standard timekeeping mode, the watch displays hours, minutes and date and has a rather conservatively elegant appearance with Roman numerals in classic silver and black colours. The lower half of the dial displays an unusual circular date display.

A sliding mechanism starts the transformation process of the watch: By pressing the slide on the left-hand flank from “10” to “8” the watch starts with its metamorphosis process that lasts approximately 15 seconds and magically transforms it from the time indicating mode into a chronograph.

The second face: The Chronograph

The metamorphosis itself can best be compared to a scene change at the theatre: wings of the dial open up, slide under one another, and disappear to the left and right beneath the middle section of the dial.

After the transformation, this masterpiece of mechanical timekeeping presents a face devoted entirely to the chronograph function. Emphasising the watch’s second function as a sports timer, the face displays Arabic numerals with red markers. The subdial, in the form of a rotating disc, now takes the stage as the minute counter. The existing hands and dials assume new roles as part of the chronograph.

The Metamorphosis watch is manufactured to the highest standards of quality, aesthetics and craftsmanship that distinguish every timepiece crafted in the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie. The Metamorphosis will only be available in a limited edition of 28 pieces.