A small price to pay

Watches with small complications are often sold at rather high prices, but Montblanc is about to challenge that with its 2013 novelties.

"We have been working to create small complications at an attractive price," says Lutz Bethge, CEO of Montblanc International. "I believe there is a strong community who would like to have small details but don't want to pay €10,000 [HK$102,500] or more."

Montblanc's entry-level 2013 TimeWalker collection justifies the CEO's words - at prices ranging between HK$34,000 to HK$46,000. TimeWalker Voyager UTC shows time in a different time zone with an extra hour-hand on the dial. The flange bears a 24-hour scale for the second time zone. Its pale and dark-coloured zones serve as a day/night indicator. Its automatic movement MB 4810/405 has a 42-hour power reserve. The 42mm case has a screwed back with a pane of sapphire crystal, and houses the date window at 6 o'clock.

Time-zone watches have been enhanced by bringing the north-south axis into play. The TimeWalker World-Time Hemispheres show all times in the 24 global time zones in northern and southern-hemisphere versions. Both have immobile rings marked with 24 names in the respective hemisphere around their dials, and on their casebacks are names of cities in the opposite hemispheres. The 24-hour discs of the two models turn in opposite directions, and different movements - MB4810/412 and MB4810/410 - are used to rotate them in proper directions. Both are mechanical with automatic winding. The dial of the northern version is in silver with a sporty black leather strap, while its southern edition has a dark anthracite-coloured dial and a stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp.