The new Tourbillon Bi-Cylindrique represents a horological innovation that introduces many new featurese to haute horlogerie. It is the first wristwatch with a tourbillon escapement and a cylindrical double balance-spring. As a renowned Manufacture specialising in chronographs and in particular the production of springs and balance wheels, Montblanc’s Manufacture in Villeret has always combined traditional Swiss craftsmanship with the quest for innovation. The watchmakers in Villeret miniaturised and transplanted the precisely beating escapement with a cylindrical balance spring, originally developed in the 18th century for the marine chronometer, into a tourbillon. The cylindrical spring was a breakthrough in shipboard timekeeping and continues to earn the admiration of watchmakers and scientists because of its precision and completely stable rates. Unlike conventional balance springs, which swing to and fro in a single plance, the cylindrically shaped balance spring expands and contracts along a vertical axis. Instead of being wound side by side at increasing distances from a common centre on the same plane, its individual turns are of equal diameter and wound one on top of the other. This construction eliminates the eccentricity of the centre of gravity. The design of the cylindrical balance spring also allows it to develop with absolute concentricity and summetry. The new Tourbillon Bi-Cylindrique ticks with not one, but two cylindrical balance springs – because they develop in opposition to each other and maintain identical torque, the isochronism is even further optimised for extreme precision in the watch’s movement. A technique never before attempted in a wristwatch. These innovative balance springs are produced exclusively in-house at the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret. The Tourbillon Bi-Cylindrique also reveals for the first time the intricate machanism of Montblanc’s legendary Heures Mysteriuses. It will be available in individually executed pieces in platinum and in limited series of eight pieces each in 18 K white gold and red gold.
