A Watch To Test The Icy Limits Of Antarctica

Montblanc’s new 1858 Geosphere 0 Oxygen South Pole Exploration Limited Edition 1990 has a back story that delves into the limits of human endurance

On December 13, Simon Messner, the well-known Italian alpinist and film- maker, attempted his first marathon. It wasn’t on the foothills of the many mountains of Europe, Asia and the Americas that he is normally used to, but in ice-carpeted Antarctica. “Indeed, it is my first marathon, and in the Antarctica, the conditions are truly challenging! I have been running regularly for a number of years, to stay fit and maintain my stamina. I run 1,000 to 1,500 meters uphill and then back down, which I find fairly easy. But starting to run longer distances is a lot more complicated, it’s a whole different game, and I think it is a good thing for me to explore something new,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with watch magazine Worldtempus before the race, where he managed to finish in seventh place.

Besides his long experience as an alpinist, Simon, metaphorically speaking, has ice and snow running through his veins. His second name provides the clue that he is the son of the legendary Reinhold Messner, who many consider the greatest mountaineer of all time, besides the Nepalese Sherpas who have in recent times have broken most Himalayan climbing records. Messner, famously was the first man to climb the Everest without supplemental oxygen in the 1970s. He followed it up to become the first to ascend all fourteen 8000 m peaks in the world, with and without oxygen. In 1990, the year Simon was born, Messner also conquered another frontier – he became the first human to walk the entire stretch of Antarctica, about 2800 km, on foot.

Simon is a Montblanc brand ambassador, and was accompanied by the company’s Global Managing Director of the watch division, Laurent Lecamp, on the Antarctic Ice Marathon as his pacer. Though Antarctica is much more traversed now than during Reinhold Messner’s time, it was anything but easy for the duo to run there. It is a featureless icy plateau sitting at an altitude of 2,835 m, with desert-like climate with hardly any precipitation and zero humidity. It is usually buffeted by strong winds that can carry snow over the entire region in a very short time, and temperatures that can plunge to -65oC, making it one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.

It is surfaces like these that inspired Montblanc to create its new Montblanc 1858 Geosphere 0 Oxygen South Pole Exploration Limited Edition 1990. The watch’s sfumato dial captures the iced blue tones of the icebergs and the layered glacial patterns of the Antarctic polar ice. Glacial ice is different from regular white ice as its age, density and weight have expelled almost all the air bubbles inside, meaning that it can absorb almost every colour in the spectrum. The colour blue is refracted thanks to this absence of oxygen. It is this blue tone that has been highlighted on the dial of the watch with an iced blue bi-directional anodised aluminium bezel with a luminescent cardinal point and a matching-coloured dial that features Montblanc’s special glacier motif, giving the impression of starring directly into the ice.

This icy theme continues with a 42mm ultralight titanium case and interchangeable tapered bracelet that comes with a fine adjustment system and a new full-satin finish. The ‘Zero Oxygen’ was also created with ice explorers in mind because it not only eliminates fogging, which can occur with drastic temperature changes at altitude, but also prevents oxidisation. Without oxygen, all the components last far longer and will provide unfaltering precision over time.

The timepiece is powered by the Calibre MB 29.25, featuring an automatic movement with Montblanc’s Manufacture Worldtime complication with around 42 hours of power reserve. Like with all 1858 Geosphere models, both the Northern and Southern hemispheres are represented by two three-dimensional globes that turn anti-clockwise and include a day and night indication so that the wearer can see what time it is across the Earth at a simple glance. Also depicted on the dial is Reinhold Messner’s famous route across the South Pole as a nod to his legendary expedition. There is a date at three o’clock and a dual time indication at nine o’clock.

The caseback is decorated with an engraving of Aurora Australis, the spectacular show of colours in the night sky over the South Pole also known as the Southern Lights. The watch is limited to 1990 pieces, the number of course being significant for more reason than one as suggested above.

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