Cover A closer look at the Montblanc Iced Sea Automatic Date (Photo: courtesy of Fine Watch Club/GMT)
A closer look at the Montblanc Iced Sea Automatic Date (Photo: courtesy of Fine Watch Club/GMT)
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The new collaborative limited edition of 23 pieces are up for grabs on a first-come, first-served basis only for Tatler readers
The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date is only a year old and its success has been such that there almost aren’t enough to go around. We say “almost” because a new collaborative limited edition of 23 pieces was unveiled recently at the Fine Watch Club in Geneva. Headquartered in Europe, the club promotes watch culture in collaboration with the Tatler GMT Watch Club in Asia. Founded in 2019, the Fine Watch Club has built a community of like-minded individuals who share a passion for high-end timepieces. It offers its members exclusive access to a range of services and events related to the world of horology, including watchmaking workshops, manufacture tours and private exhibitions of rare and vintage watches, as well as a range of exclusive timepieces such as this one.
First released during Watches and Wonders 2022, the Iced Sea marked the first diving watch for the maison, conforming to the ISO 6425 diving certification with water resistance down to 300m, a reinforced and adjustable double deployant buckle, and excellent legibility. It is also certified by Montblanc’s impressive Laboratory 500-Hour Test, which simulates the first year’s life cycle of a watch and checks its performance, reliability and accuracy over time, making the Iced Sea a robust, dependable, and high-quality instrument.
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Above The Montblanc Iced Sea Automatic Date (Photo: courtesy of Fine Watch Club/GMT)
The Montblanc Iced Sea Automatic Date (Photo: courtesy of Fine Watch Club/GMT)
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But it isn’t only the performance that has caught collectors’ attention: what makes the Iced Sea really stand out is its glacier-patterned dial inspired by the ice in the Mer de Glace galcier in the Mont Blanc mountain range. Looking closely, you can see ridges and crevasses that give the impression of depth, even though the dial is only 0.4mm thick. “It was quite the challenge because the glacier has inclusions [trapped materials] that look almost milky, which is no easy feat to create,” explains Laurent Lecamp, Montblanc’s managing director for watches. “The next challenge was to create the shine and impression of depth in the ice. To achieve this, we employed [gratté boisé,] an old 19th-century technique which had been practically forgotten.”
The Fine Watch Club Limited Edition is based on the 41mm stainless steel green edition of the 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date with its green glacier dial and matching green ceramic unidirectional rotating bezel. There are a number of design differences to this edition, however, that make it unique. Firstly, the white index for the 11th hour has been replaced with the white Arabic numeral 23, as a nod to the year 2023; and instead of glowing blue in the dark like the other numerals and indexes, the 23 glows green.
Secondly, the 3D relief engraving on the caseback depicts an iceberg and a black scuba diver exploring the glacial waters beneath. This image is slightly different on the Fine Watch Club edition where the black scuba diver is considerably larger than on the original edition. These are small details that don’t distract from the striking design of the original, but add an element of exclusivity. The final touch is the engraving: “Limited edition—for 23 members only”.
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Above The exclusive caseback of the limited edition Montblanc Iced Sea watch (Photo: courtesy of Fine Watch Club/GMT)
The exclusive caseback of the limited edition Montblanc Iced Sea watch (Photo: courtesy of Fine Watch Club/GMT)
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The timepiece is powered by an automatic movement and indicates the hours, minutes and seconds, and a date at three o’clock. It is fitted with an interchangeable stainless-steel bracelet which can be quickly and easily switched for a choice of rubber straps. The bracelet is also adjustable using its double deployant buckle, so each owner can find their perfect fit—an especially welcome function when wearing it over a wetsuit.
