The Montblanc TimeWalker Automatic Chronograph UTC Ceramic (ref. 116101) is a nice (if a bit overpriced to my taste) addition to their line of popular sporty chronographs. While some of the main selling points of this new TimeWalker -like the choice of the movement and the combination of materials- look more “acceptable” rather than “exciting,” we at WorldWatchReview.com would still recommend getting one of these oversized pieces of, um, time-measuring opulence if the price is not a problem.
Overall Impression
It’s been more than three years since I last reviewed a Montblanc wristwatch. Not that there weren’t any new products released by the brand, it was just I somehow found all of them depressingly boring in their carefully calculated refinement.
Frankly, even this new TimeWalker Chronograph UTC Ceramic doesn’t make me want to rush to my wallet to take out my credit card and order one of these beauties.
Still, I should reiterate that it is indeed a beauty and it looks like a nice addition to their collection of “sportified” luxury timepieces. Also, I have the impression that the model will be popular among those interested in something different than an Omega Speedmaster: a de facto office standard in some areas of business.
While there is nothing groundbreaking or innovative about this watch, it successfully mixes the elegance of a gentleman’s gadget with a distilled form of the mojo of an expensive sports accessory (I hope the phrase has some meaning to you, I surely tried to create a good metaphor here.) It’s not a coincidence that the maker of expensive pens decided to use an interior of a vintage luxury sports car for the promotional photo session that accompanied the launch of this new model.
Yes, it is a bit overpriced for the way it limits the use of a scratch-resistant composite material to only its rotating bezel, and, yes, I would prefer it to feature a movement of higher pedigree, but, hey, there are not so many people besides us watch nerds who would even make an attempt to give a wooden nickel about these things: the watch looks great and, if cash is not an issue, is not that expensive after all.
Case, Bezel & Strap
Being what it is, a medium-priced luxury watch, this TimeWalker Chronograph UTC minimizes the use of scratch-resistant ceramic material only to its rotating bezel. The rest is the usual stainless steel, which is treated with a black DLC coating that, too, usually does a good job of protecting your watch from unexpected dings and scratches. The coating comes in an unusual ‘matte’ finish that not only blends nicely with the perforated rubber strap but also makes the glossy ceramic bezel really stand out.
When it comes to the choice of materials, I don’t think it is them being greedy, but rather that it’s still difficult to manufacture a fully-ceramic timekeeper with a good movement inside when you are trying to squeeze it into a sub-€5000 niche.
Yes, there is the gorgeous 2016 Tudor Fastrider Black Shield Ducati 42000CN sporting a sticker price of approximately $5000 (as usual, this one depends on your local taxes and customs duties,) but the relatively low price had something to do with Rolex still limiting its profit margins at the time to sell more timekeepers under its recently resurrected sub-brand.
While the mechanism is, again, acceptable both in terms of build quality and accuracy (see below,) the choice of the caliber resulted in the timekeeper’s case growing in size. It even grew dangerously close to the upper limit of what essentially a dressy, workday chronograph can afford without becoming what eBay sellers often call a “novelty”.
Measuring more than 15 millimeters from top to bottom, it is thicker than some “divers” rated for more than 300 meters (this one, by the way, features a water resistance rating of just 100 meters) and sports extra-thick and extra-strong front crystals. Yes, the thickness is still manageable but may limit your choice of clothing ruling out shirts and sports jackets with narrow cuffs.
On the other hand, if you are into deliberately massive timekeepers, there is a good chance that your wardrobe has already been adapted to larger watches, who knows?
The basic ergonomics is just fine: the chronograph push-pieces are just long enough to offer a comfortable way of operating the sub-system, but still short enough not to give you too many false starts (as my experience tells me, they are virtually inevitable, but I also tend to wear my watch low on my wrist, your experience may be different,) which is good.
The winding/setting crown is also standard for their current TimeWalker collection: although yours truly would prefer it to be just slightly thicker, the notching on the crown still gives you a good grip when you need to readjust the timekeeper’s readings.
Frankly, I don’t see where to find fault in this well-calculated product when it comes to the case and the way that it’s sculpted: the product was designed by true professionals and it shows.
Dial & Legibility
I was a bit disappointed when I first found out that Montblanc decided not to use the bold styling of their earlier Urban Speed and Voyager UTC collections in their new, 2017 range.
Although I perfectly understand that, on a market that contracts for four years in a row, the strategy of turning back to the proverbial “roots” often seems to be the best, it would still be nice if the Montblancs looked more unique. Well, at least they are not generic.
For this new batch of TimeWalkers, Montblanc returned to the styling that they have used back in 2010 with an addition of even less interesting dauphine-style hour and minute hands and slightly smaller Arabic numerals interspersed with stick-shaped hour markers.
Both the Urban Speed and Voyager are still available via the brand’s website and, something tells me, will be sold by numerous online stores for years to come. However, if the words “classic” and “heritage” mean more to you than “avant-garde” and “bold,” please do continue reading this review.
As usual for their blacked-out lines, both the numerals and the indices are rhodium-plated for better contrast on the black background of the sunburst-style dial with the nighttime legibility slightly enhanced with tiny luminous rectangles placed on the chapter ring, as well as with narrow slots on the hour (primary, the secondary one has the traditional -again, some may call it ‘generic’ triangular-shaped red tip-) and minute hands.
While speaking of legibility, I must admit that the dial doesn’t look too cluttered here: with the number of inscriptions and markers reduced to a minimum, it is always easy to grasp current time and/or chronograph readings with a glance.
What you may not like, however, is the way the secondary time zone is displayed. As traditional as it is, it is still not the best way to tell time: first of all, you have to mentally jump between 12-hour and 24-hour displays and this may become a source of irritation at some point, and, second, there is a noticeable visual jump between the chapter ring on the dial and the second time zone numerals on the unidirectional rotating ceramic bezel. In this respect, the dial on the aforementioned Voyager UTC was a great deal more readable and user-friendly than this “traditional” one.
As for the other indicators, they are, too, traditional and come courtesy of the mass-produced mechanism that Montblanc decided to use for this iteration of the TimeWalker family (um, again: see below.)
While the visual accent on the vertically placed chronograph sub-dials (a 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock and a 12-hour totalizer at six) looks nice, the readability of the small-seconds indicator, which is ‘blended’ into the timekeeper’s face for a cleaner look suffers to a degree with only 5-seconds markers placed on its rim. On the other hand (small pun intended,) the lack of readability here gives you a good excuse to use the chronograph more often: the central-seconds hand here allows you to measure time intervals with accuracy up to 1/4th of a second, which is good enough for most applications.
Mechanism
As the Swatch Group pulls out of the wholesale ebauche market, legendary ETA movements are starting to get pretty hard to come by, so it is no wonder that for their less expensive models Montblanc gradually replaces them with mechanisms done by Sellita. Yes, Montblanc has its own Manufacture-grade calibers, but those, regretfully, are restricted for more expensive models that allow the Swiss brand to keep good profit margins.
This particular Caliber MB 25.03 is based on the well-known Sellita SW500 blank movement. Designed to compete with the legendary ETA 7750 family, this is a natural-born chronograph (i.e. it’s not just a plebeian three-hander equipped with an add-on chronograph plate) that has been fitted with Dubois-Depraz DD225 second time zone module: a popular upgrade among second-tier brands.
Of course, the add-on module will decrease the mechanism’s overall outstanding reliability simply because there are more moving parts, but not in a big way: after all, a person buying a complicated watch should always bear in mind that, like any sophisticated mechanism, it will be more expensive to keep in good working order than a simple three-hander.
Anyways, the mechanism has been here for more than six years and enjoys a good reputation not only among many brands but with end-users as well. The only problem that you may probably encounter here is that the SW500 hasn’t acquired the status of a “legendary” movement and this may somehow damage the timekeeper’s resale value in case you decide to flip the watch at a later time.
I can’t say whether the batch of mechanisms selected to power this member of the TimeWalker family was fine-tuned in any way (all I can say is that they often do at this price point,) but it’s a pleasure to note that the mechanism was at least nicely decorated featuring a personalized oscillating weight with Geneva stripes and branding, as well as a set of polished and blued screws, and sand-blasted and beveled bridges.
By today’s standards, the 46-hours power reserve that the mechanism is good for after being fully wounded is pretty underwhelming. Yes, it is practical enough if you plan to use the watch daily, however, if you are not going to wear the timepiece on a weekend you will either need to place it into an automatic winder or face a painful process of rewinding and resetting the chronograph on a Monday morning.
Pricing & Availability
In Europe, the TimeWalker Automatic Chronograph UTC (ref. 116101) will be available at a recommended street price of €4990, which is impressive, but, surprisingly, a bit less expensive than their earlier ETA-based chronographs. As far as value is concerned, I would still say that it is overpriced and it would be wiser to not rush and buy one as soon as it appears on a shelve of a multi-brand store near you, but to wait for some time until it is offered with a discount of at least 1/4th (maybe even 1/3rd) of the original MSRP.
See also: Montblanc Star World-Time GMT
Photos: Montblanc
WWR verdict
Originality 4.5/5
Build quality: 5/5
Usability: 4.5/5
Overall Legibility: 4.5/5
Nighttime Legibility: 4/5
Value for money: 4/5
Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph UTC 116101 specification
Price: €4990 (MSRP)
Winding: Automatic
Movement: Caliber MB 25.03, base Sellita SW500 with Dubois-Depraz DD225 second time-zone module, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 42
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 46 months
Movement decoration: Geneva stripes on the rotor, blued screws, sand-blasted and polished bridges
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, chronograph, UTC (second time-zone)
Case: Black DLC-treated stainless steel
Bezel: Black ceramic
Shape: Round
Size: 43.00 mm
Case height: 15.20 mm
Dial: Black
Numerals: Arabic, applied, luminous, rhodium-plated
Hour markers: Applied, luminous, rhodium-plated
Hands: Luminous, polished, rhodium-plated
Water resistance: 100 meters
Strap: Perforated black rubber strap with stainless steel and black DLC triple folding clasp
Crystal: Sapphire, domed, antireflective
Back: Sapphire, smoked