Lot 186

Montblanc

Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Open Hometime

A large and heavy wristwatch with decentralized time display, second time zone, date, rotating discs for auxiliary seconds and chronograph and twin barrels with a power reserve of 72 hours

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The Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Open Hometime, bears callber MB R210, a movement which uniquely combines classical chronograph mechanism and modern technical solutions. A special feature is the display of the time in a second zone via a rotating 12 hours disc: visible through circular apertures in the dial, this disc is skeletonised so that nothing remains, of except its wreath of teeth with an hours scale along the rim and slender spokes radiating from its center. Here too, as for the rotating second and minute discs the display relies on Rieussec's principle of a rotating disc rather than a hand: a small red triangular index labeled "HOME TIME" points to the hour in the wearer's home time zone, while the larger hour-hand and minute-hand keep track of the time in whichever zone the watch's owner is presently staying. This complex interplay of three rotating discs is an interesting technical solution which gives the watch an unmistakable aesthetic and uses the dial as an integral part of the movement.
Synchronized with the home time, a day/night display moves through an arcing window shaped like the tail of a comet at "9 o'clock". The date, which appears in a window at "3 o'clock", shows the date in the local time zone. Another aperture in the dial, positioned between the two Chrono­graph discs, invites connoisseurs to admire the low-wear vertical coupling, the screw balance with its spirally coiled hairspring, and the escape-wheel with its characteristically shaped teeth.

The off-centred hours and minutes ring and the two totalisers lend this unusual chronograph its distinctive character. The chronograph functions are operated through a single pusher in the crown. Montblanc’s technical and development manager Yannick Renaudet explains: "You read this watch by its hands that are fixed –it is the dials that turn and so completely change the way of reading the time, and there is a complexity connected with the discs and the linkage of the discs."
By displaying the counters on discs instead of hands the watch reminds us of the original meaning of the word chronograph, which is "time writer" – so it is fitting that this timepiece should take its name from Nicolas Rieussec, who invented the first inking chronograph.