When Montblanc decided to re-introduce a dive watch to the lineup in 2022, it did so in the only way possible for a brand named for the highest mountain in the Alps. The Iced Sea lineup features dials inspired by the Mer de Glace, or Sea of Ice, a 7.5km long and 200m deep glacier that snakes along above the Chamonix valley in France. For its newest Iced Sea Automatic Date models, Montblanc is releasing a new dial color in rich burgundy, and a new bronze case crafted from less common aluminum bronze.
William Coxe poetically described the Mer de Glace by comparing it to “…waves instantaneously frozen in the midst of a violent storm.” Not surprisingly, re-creating such a sight is no easy task. To do so, Montblanc utilizes a gratté-boisé technique that involves using a piece of wood to scrape the surface of a material, resulting in a dynamic, textured dial that mimics the swirls, cracks, and fissures of glacial ice.
You’ll find glacial dials in Montblanc’s Iced Sea lineup in several colors inspired by natural hues found in glacial ice, including silver-white, black, blue, and green. Montblanc describes the new burgundy as being inspired by the deep red color that shines as the evening sun hits the glacier. We’ll leave it to mountaineers to let us know if Montblanc hit the mark. Regardless of the inspiration, the rich burgundy dial is nicely offset by a black ceramic bezel that keeps the red from being too overpowering.
As the other models in the Iced Sea lineup, the stainless-steel case of the Iced Sea—Burgundy-tone Dial measures 41mm in diameter (12.9mm in height) and comes mounted on a stainless-steel bracelet. Montblanc adds 300m of water resistance and ample Super-LumiNova on the hands, markers, and lume pip, making this a true sports watch.
With both new models, you’ll find a couple other minor changes from previous editions, including a new logo at 6 o’clock inspired by a vintage Minerva export seal, and a 3D engraving on the titanium caseback (bronze on the bronze model) with a larger scuba diver.
Though the burgundy model represents a relatively minor departure for the Iced Sea, primarily through a change in dial color, the Iced Sea Automatic Date Bronze features an entirely new case material. Rather than a typical bronze alloy, Montblanc opted for aluminum bronze, an alloy made from aluminum and copper (rather than standard bronze, which is made with copper and tin or brass made from copper and zinc). The advantage to using this material is that it provides greater corrosion and rust resistant yet will still patina over time.
Montblanc pairs its new case material with a black glacial pattern dial and bi-color anodized aluminum bezel. Those warm tones of the case carry through to the bezel as well as the accents on the dial itself. Overall, these changes create an entirely new and unexpectedly warm look for Montblanc’s ice-inspired dive watch. Rather than a bracelet, Montblanc pairs the bronze model with a black rubber strap outlined in brown. Like other models in the lineup, these two new Iced Sea divers feature a Sellita SW200 (MB 24.17) automatic movement. This Swiss Made movement beats at 28.8kbh with 38 hours of power reserve.
Perhaps we can thank Tudor for re-popularizing burgundy, but whatever the cause, there will be plenty of people happy to see some warmer color options available in the Iced Sea lineup. The new case material is particularly intriguing and it will be interesting to see how this material wears and patinas over time. Both models are priced at $3,915 USD. For more information on Montblanc and the new Iced Sea models, please visit the brand’s website.
