Montblanc Releases its Fourth Configuration of the Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum in Gray & Gold

Travel watches are currently having a moment. From dive watches with 12 hour bezels, to a new generation of affordable GMTs, there hasn’t been a time where there has been this many options for a watch that can help you stay on track as you jump across different time zones (more divers with a GMT function, please). But what about Worldtimers? They deserve a little bit of attention too, right? The complication allows the user to decipher the time in any part of the world at a glance and the traditional design between the globe on the dial and the cities surrounding it symbolizes the curiosity and romance of travel.

Montblanc distinctly captures the world time complication in their Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum. The watch uses a series of discs, one of which displays various cities and the other a 24-hour day/night scale that works in tandem with the central hands to tell the time anywhere in the world. The model itself was incepted back in 2014 and has seen three previous configurations – a blue dial in steel, a brown dial in rose gold and a green dial United Arab Emirates limited edition. Recently, Montblanc released their newest addition to the Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum line in a handsome gray and gold dial combination.

The Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum saw some changes from its 2014 form and has remained the same ever since. Those changes included a new case design with an intricate lug set , an updated crown, better finishing, as well as a new set of hour markers for better legibility. The new Orbis Terrarum maintains the same dial design, but displays the continents and meridian lines in rose gold against a split black and gray day/night disc adorned with a guilloché pattern. That tonal split similarly occurs within the 24 hour scale, displaying daytime with black numerals and night time with rose gold numerals.

So how does the Orbis Terrarum world time complication work? The 43mm stainless steel case sports a push button at eight o’clock that’s responsible for moving the inner disc between the different cities. The crown pulled out to its first position jumps the hour hand back and forth, and moves the 24-hour day/night scale along with it. The second position takes care of setting the time. In order to keep track of the time in your current location, as well as the time around the world, first you would need to designate the city/time zone you’re in via the push button until it aligns with the triangle marker at 12 o’clock. Once adjusted, pulling the crown out to its second position will allow you to set the local time in said current location. Voila. Not only do you have your local time with a visual of the sun’s location relative to you selected city, but the times of the remaining cities around the dial.

Powering the world time function is Montblanc’s MB 29.20 equipped with 42 hours of power reserve, 26 jewels and a frequency of 28,800 bph. The Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum sports a domed sapphire crystal with AR-coating, a steel caseback with an inset pane of an additional sapphire crystal, and 50 meters of water resistance. The watch is delivered with a Gray Sfumato alligator leather strap with a matching hardwear triple folding clasp.

I’m fond of the dial color combination used here. The use of gold will always have a dressy appeal, but balancing the dial with gray tones levels it down to a more casual looking watch. The jumping hour hand appeals to me as well and actually makes this particular worldtimer travel friendly. We’re spoiled for travel watches nowadays … and I’ll be the last one to complain about it.

The Montblanc Star Legacy Orbis Terrarum retails for $7,000 and is currently available online directly through Montblanc and at all Montblanc boutiques. Montblanc