When it came to imagining a new sports diving watch, Montblanc didn’t go to the world’s tropical waters for inspiration, but rather climbed up to the glacial lakes of the Mont Blanc Massif. Ascending via the Chamonix Valley to the Mer de Glace —Sea of Ice—, the Maison’s designers were captivated by the texture of the glacial ice with its interlocking network of crystals that have been frozen in time for millennia. Trying to figure out a way of translating what they had seen onto the face of a watch, they created a watch dial that measures a mere 0.5 mm in height to obtain the illusion of looking into the depth of a glacier. After several trials, the Maison found a technical solution to create an impression of genuine depth and luminosity. The dial makers employed an almost-forgotten ancestral technique called gratté boisé as the base.

The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date features a generous 41 mm stainless steel case and comes with three different dials —blue, green, and black— that represent different colors of glacial ice. Blue ice can be found in the Mont-Blanc’s Sea of Ice, while green ice is found in Antarctica and black ice occurs when the ice has no inclusions or air bubbles, therefore absorbing enough light to appear black.

All three watches are equipped with a bicolor —15-minute segment in a contrasting color— ceramic unidirectional rotating bezel and a case back featuring a 3D relief engraving of an iceberg and a scuba diver exploring the glacial waters below. This new collection is powered by an automatic movement with a power reserve of 38 hours.

The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date is a certified diving timing instrument, conforming to the ISO 6425 norm. The watches feature an interchangeable v-shaped stainless-steel bracelet which can be quickly and easily switched for a rubber strap without the use of any tools.

The Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date wears true to its size and quite nice. Personally, we prefer the watches on rubber strap because the bracelet is not our cup of tea.

Sticker Price $3,190 USD for bracelet and $2,975 USD on strap. For more info on Montblanc click here.