The Red Dial Version of the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen

Montblanc pays tribute to Italian alpinist Reinhold Messner, one of the world’s greatest high-altitude mountaineers. As the first person to summit all the 14 eight-thousanders, Montblanc celebrates the legendary alpinist’s 80^th birthday with a limited edition of the 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen. Offering world time and chronograph functions, the new crackled red dial is inspired by Antarctica’s red glaciers, and the 0 Oxygen case pays tribute to Messner’s ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.

Montblanc’s 1858 Geosphere debuted in 2018. Rugged, sporty and retro, the 1858 line was inspired by Minerva watches from the 1920s and 1930s conceived for military use and exploration. The first model set the tone for the collection with its vintage tool watch styling combined with an attractive and practical world time complication with two globes representing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Rotating in opposite directions, the two globes offered the time worldwide with a 24-hour scale complemented by a secondary 12-hour sub-dial for home time. The 1858 Geosphere also paid tribute to the 160^th anniversary of Minerva and was powered by a world time module developed internally at Villeret. To underscore the spirit of mountain exploration, the red dots on the two rotating maps represented the highest peaks on Earth.

Born on 17 September 1944 in South Tyrol, Reinhold Messner is the first to have climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000m peaks. In his honour, his alternative route for ascending the Seven Summits is known as ‘Messner’s List’. His accomplishments are staggering: Messner was the first to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen; he skied across the entire continent of Antarctica; he crossed Greenland on foot and traversed the Gobi Desert solo.

It was Messner’s Mount Everest ascent without supplemental oxygen that inspired Montblanc to create the Zero Oxygen case in 2022, appearing on the 1858 Geosphere Chronograph. Removing oxygen from the case avoids the risk of fogging and oxidation, and the oils used to lubricate the movement are especially suited to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations up to -50C.

The large stainless steel case has a 44mm diameter and a thickness of 17.1mm but is crafted in lightweight titanium to keep its weight down. The bi-directional fluted bezel has a black ceramic insert with the cardinal points enhanced with blue emission Super-LumiNova. Mostly decorated with brushed finishings, the curved lugs have a polished bevel matching the tops of the chronograph pushers and the Montblanc star logo in the crown.

The dial is protected by a domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating, while the caseback offers a surprising, laser-engraved colour image of K2. Using a photo taken by Messner in 1979 from the top of K2, the caseback reveals the blue skies and impressive snow-covered peaks in three-dimensional relief of his favourite mountain and the names of the seven summits.

The red sfumato or gradient dial of this 1858 Geosphere Chronograph imitates the texture of cracked ice using a gratté boisé technique. This involves scratching very fine lines using a wooden tool into the surface of a brass dial, producing depth and a realistic sensation of looking into glacial ice. The domed red globes with white continents at noon and 6 o’clock have two-tone 24-hour scales in red and white and are intersected by white latitude and longitude lines to assist legibility. The watch has an interchangeable black textile strap with red stitching and a titanium and steel triple-folding clasp with fine adjustment.

The chronograph counters, with 30-minute elapsed times at 3 and a 12-hour totaliser at 9 o’clock, have white railroad tracks and white hands and markings, and there is a white precision track on the flange indicated by the white central chronograph seconds hand with its red tip. The sub-dial at 3 o’clock incorporates the date window and the brand’s historical logo with the mountain intersecting the words Mont and Blanc. The Arabic numerals and markers are applied and filled with Super-LumiNova, as are the cathedral-style hour and minute hands.

Hidden beneath the caseback is the Montblanc calibre 29.27 automatic chronograph with a world time complication (Sellita SW500 base with in-house module). It has 33 jewels, beats at 28,800vph (4Hz) with a 46-hour power reserve and has passed the brand’s rigorous 500-hour laboratory test for durability.

Availability & Price

Limited to just 290 pieces – a nod to Everest’s 29,031 feet that Messner has conquered on several occasions – the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen Red Dial retails for EUR 9,800. For more information, please consult Montblanc.com.