Introducing Montblanc Unveils the Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles

Montblanc presents the Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles, an exclusive timepiece paying tribute to France’s most famous masked ball, Le Bal des Ifs. Limited to just eight pieces, this masterpiece combines traditional high horology, marquetry, hand-engraving, and champlevé enamel with cutting-edge 3D modeling and laser etching, resulting in Montblanc’s most opulently crafted watch to date.

In 1745, King Louis XV hosted a grand ball to celebrate the wedding of his son, Louis the Dauphin, to the Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain. Held at the Palace of Versailles, the wedding ceremony itself was soon forgotten, but the masked ball, gathering around 1,500 costumed guests in the Hall of Mirrors, remains one of the most spectacular and memorable events in French history.

The case, crafted from 18-karat (750/1000) yellow gold, measures 44.8 mm in diameter and 15.52 mm in height. A hand-engraved laurel wreath, long associated with Apollo in ancient Greece and symbolizing victory adorns the bezel.

Montblanc’s artisans have also engraved the caseband with a narrative scene inspired by a painting by François Lemoyne from the Salon de la Paix at Versailles. The artwork depicts Louis XV offering an olive branch to Europe, while above him, Minerva, the Roman goddess of arts, war, and justice, and namesake of Montblanc’s historical manufacture, instructs Mercury to close the Gates of Janus. The scene portrays Louis XV as a Roman emperor, reflecting the rise of Neoclassicism during the Enlightenment.

Inspired by clocks and pocket watches from the era of Louis XIV, the time-telling dial sits proudly at 12 o’clock as the centerpiece of the Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles. This design echoes the haute horlogerie aesthetics favored by European elites in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The champlevé enamel technique, where hollows are carved into a metal base and filled with enamel before firing creates the luminous white backdrop of the dial. Blue enamel paint is used for the Roman numerals, while pure gold powder is applied to form the sun’s radiant rays at the center.

A laser-machined 3N-gold supporting ring frames the dial, mirroring the polished brass details of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors. The section surrounding the tourbillon recreates stained-glass motifs such as the fleur-de-lys, reminiscent of the Royal Chapel’s décor.

The hands are styled after Baroque-era clock hands but crafted using modern laser-cutting techniques due to the reduced scale of a wristwatch. At the center, a brass Apollo head acts as a cap for the arbor on which the hands are mounted, a nod to the Apollonian sun motif from the great clock above the King’s Chambers in the Marble Court at Versailles.

Powering this extraordinary timepiece is the manually wound Calibre MB M16.68. First introduced in 2010, Montblanc’s patented Exo Tourbillon took three years to develop. The term “Exo,” derived from Greek meaning “outside,” refers to the balance wheel positioned above the tourbillon cage.

This ingenious configuration minimizes the cage’s diameter while allowing for a larger balance wheel equipped with 18 regulating screws, increasing mass and precision. The mechanism is anchored by a single-arm bridge, whose alignment and finishing require exceptional craftsmanship. The gold-coated, hand-engraved bridge arches gracefully in harmony with the domed shape of the time display, creating a perfect visual balance between the sub-dials. The movement beats at 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5 Hz) and offers a power reserve of 50 hours.

The watch is paired with a grey calfskin strap with alligator-style embossing and gold-toned stitching, secured by an 18K yellow gold triple-folding clasp.

Each piece is presented in a bespoke Elie Bleu wooden box fitted with a Reuge music mechanism, making this an ensemble worthy of Versailles’ royal legacy.

Limited to eight pieces worldwide, the Montblanc Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles is priced at €229,000, approximately AED 981,400.

For more information visit Montblanc’s official website.