The new, rose gold ‘Open Home Time Chronograph’ is a reinterpretation of the established chronograph principle. Rather than the more familiar two ‘pushers’ flanking a winding crown at two, three and four o’clock, Montblanc’s newest offering has a ‘monopusher’ on the left-hand side of the case which governs all the chronograph functions. A traditional winding crown can be seen at three o’clock.

The monopusher operates the timing mechanism by single clicks, cycling through starting, stopping and resetting. Its location at eight o’clock means easier ergonomics and a more natural action – right-handers can use their left thumb.

The novelties do not end there. Instead of a single sweeping second hand, two discs (an original Rieussec innovation) show elapsed seconds and elapsed minutes (to a maximum of 30). And, to add extra functionality and delightful level of horological complication, the watch has a ‘home time’ function, allowing the traveller to read the time in another part of the world.

The second time-zone is presented in the skeletonised upper part of the dial as a red index labelled ‘HOME TIME'. This can easily be adjusted in one-hour increments via the conventional winding crown. A comet tail-shaped window at nine o’clock can be synchronised with the day/night period of the second time-zone.

Photos: Montblanc