This new limited edition timepiece combines traditional high horology and laser-etching

Montblanc celebrates the grandeur of Versailles and its most storied ball in the Montblanc Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles. Every detail of this watch takes its aesthetic cue from Versailles, and the dial recreates the Hall of Mirrors on the night of The Yew Tree Ball. This decorative feat involves traditional enameling, micro-painting and inlaying of marble and oak. Less traditional, though equally exquisite, are the use of sophisticated 3D-modelling and laser-etching into both sapphire and brass.

Explore Montblanc's Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles

One of the most lasting impressions of the Palace of Versailles is that, despite housing over 2300 rooms and having been built up across generations, its style is essentially Baroque. As one moves through the palace, one finds true harmony from the grandest architectural gesture to the smallest detail. In a similar gesture, the dial of the Montblanc Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles brings together a surprising number of decorative motifs using a variety of artistic methods and materials while achieving aesthetic harmony.

The main dial recreates The Yew Tree Ball, using as its inspiration the etching "Decoration for a Masked Ball at Versailles" by Charles Nicolas Cochin I. First printed in 1746 to memorialise the evening, prints of this work now reside in collections ranging from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to London's British Museum. The base of the dial is constructed from white gold 750/1000(18 karats), which is then covered with black enamel and topped with gold paillons before being baked in the oven.

This enamel and gold treatment gives the effect of the candle-lit chandeliers being reflected in the windows, creating an eye-catching depth to the dial. The archways are created from two types of stone: the milky white Cacholong, a variety of opal, and Sarrancolin marble sourced from the same quarry in France's Hautes-Pyrénées region used for the marble in the original Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.For the floor, solid oak is cut and inlaid on the dial to recreate the parquet pattern.

Precision timing is achieved with Montblanc's patented Exo Tourbillon mechanism, a complication developed in-house over three years at the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret, Switzerland and first released in 2010. The Tourbillon is a patented mechanism that took three years to develop, bringing novel watchmaking ideas to the tourbillon.

"Exo" is Greek for "outside," and in this instance the term refers to the balance wheel residing above the tourbillon cage. This unique solution not only minimises the diameter of the tourbillon cage and rotating escapement, but it also allows the balance wheel to be large enough to house 18 adjustment screws (regulating weights), which in turn adds mass to the unit.

Remarkably, the balance wheel mechanism is anchored by a single-arm bridge. Aligning and securing a single-arm bridge to the tolerances required by this mechanism is a testament to the savoir-faire of Montblanc's master watchmakers. Aesthetically speaking, the beautifully engraved and gold-coated stainless steel single-arm bridge arcs in perfect unison with the domed shape of the time-telling dial, helping to create visual harmony between the two sub-dials.

A Musical Box in the Style of Louis XIV and Louis XV

The box for the Montblanc Star Legacy Suspended Exo Tourbillon Château de Versailles was constructed by the Parisian luxury table-maker, Elie Bleu, in operation since 1976. The music box inside is by Switzerland's Reuge, which has specialised in luxury music boxes and mechanical songbirds since 1865. The music played by the coffret was presented at Versailles to celebrate the wedding of the Dauphin Louis and his bride on that storied night in February of 1745. Specifically, the music is by Jean-Philippe Rameau with lyrics originally written by none other than Voltaire.

Thanks to an external trigger on the side of the box, the music will play and the watch will turn in place as if dancing at the great masquerade ball. This spectacle takes place upon a real oak miniature parquet floor surrounded by real marble arches mimicking those of the Hall of Mirrors. On the outer walnut face of the box, the scene of The Yew Tree Ball from Cochin's famous engraving is laser-etched to exacting precision, a signature Montblanc treatment.

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