Montblanc just unveiled its new Heritage Manufacture Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 100. This watch features vintage aesthetics, being inspired by historical Minerva wristwatches from the 1940s and ’50s, and a beautiful rose gold case.
Invented in the 18th century, the perpetual calendar complication is a highly complex mechanism that automatically takes the number of days in the month, as well as the cycle of leap years, into account. This way, the perpetual calendar automatically corrects itself for short month, including the 29th of February in leap years. This way, as long as a watch with a perpetual calendar is kept running, it won’t require any manual adjustment for decades. To achieve this, the functions draw on a technical memory of 1460 days, representing four years. To this day, the perpetual calendar continues to fascinate and delight watch enthusiasts, making it a very popular complication.

The Heritage Manufacture Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 100 indicates the hours, minutes, day, date, month, moonphase, and leap year – and is still a very legible watch. This is due to the large subdials at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. And the new aesthetic, featuring a brown colour scheme, suits this watch extremely well. The sapphire crystal class box continues the elegant vintage look of this watch.
In line with the design codes of the Heritage line, the Heritage Manufacture Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 100 comes in a 40 mm rose gold case with curved horns. It is water-resistant up to 5 atm.

This watch is powered by the in-house calibre MB 29.22. This movement with its perpetual calendar complication took Montblanc three years to develop and was introduced two years ago. The calibre comprises 378 components of which 259 are dedicated to the perpetual calendar function. The mechanism allows the user to adjust the watch via the crown in both directions, which is unusual. Also, Montblanc has built in a safety feature, that prevents any setting between the hours of 6 pm and 12 pm, when any manipulation could potentially (and very likely) damage the movement. The movement works at a frequency of 4 Hz and provides a power-reserve of approximately 48 hours.

The Heritage Manufacture Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 100 is equipped with a brown alligator leather strap, which completes the overall design nicely.