The Montblanc Metamorphosis is one of the most astonishing ideas in modern horology, a watch that literally changes its face with the slide of a lever. The original Metamorphosis was unveiled in 2010 under its TimeWriter program, a venture incubated at the Minerva manufacture in Villeret to support young talent in realizing revolutionary concepts. The watch was conceived by Johnny Girardin and Franck Orny, the duo behind the independent complication workshop Telos Watch. In fact, the Metamorphosis was the first timepiece developed by Telos.

At first glance, it resembles a regulator-style watch with the hours at 12 o’clock, retrograde central minutes, a central seconds hand and a date display at 6 o’clock. However, when the owner slides a lever, the dial under goes a dramatic Metamorphosis. The scales at both 12 and 6 o’clock are, in fact, shutters. Two flaps at 6 o’clock carrying the numerals of the date with draw beneath the dial, while a corresponding pair at12dothesameforthehourdisplay.Astheapertures clear, a second dial rises from below, bringing with it a back cover disk and a plate that now fills the space at 6 o’clock. The back cover is cut with a recess that receives the date hand, hiding it from view while it continues to advance unseen. In its place appears the chronograph minute counter that consists of a rotating disk that is read against a fixed indicator. To make that possible, the inventors designed clever couplings. The date hand arbor passes through the elevator assembly and drives both the hand and the backcover. When the elevator rises, the hand slips into a recess in the back cover and becomes invisible, but the arbor continues to rotate. In parallel, the chronograph’s minute counter plate is mounted on the same elevator but is driven by the chronograph train via vertical pins that transmit rotation while allowing the plate to travel up and down. Thus, when it ascends into view, it is already “live.”

Montblanc TimeWriter I Metamorphosis

Montblanc TimeWriter I Metamorphosis

Conceptually, its power source recalls that of a minute repeater or automaton, where a secondary mainspring barrel is armed on demand by sliding a bolt. The mainspring drives a gear train that ends in a centrifugal governor that regulates the pace of its discharge, and therefore its openings, closures and elevations.

The concept did not end with the 2010 debut. Montblanc revisited it in the Metamorphosis II of 2015, and later in the Star Legacy Metamorphosis of 2019 and 2021, where the transformation went further still from a conventional oscillator to an Exo Tourbillon.

Montblanc Metamorphosis II

Montblanc Star Legacy Metamorphosis

Though it is often said of stage magic that once the trick is revealed, the wonder evaporates and the door closes on that first astonishment, the Metamorphosis is one of the rare watches that loses nothing when its mechanism is understood. The effect remains startling, because the marvel lies not so much in the trick, if one can even call it that, but in the fact that such a feat of horological engineering could exist at all.

Tech Specs: Montblanc TimeWriter I Metamorphosis

Movement Manual winding Caliber MB M16.29; 50-hour power reserve
Functions Hour counter, retrograde minutes, central seconds and date (in time-and-date mode); central chronograph seconds and 31-minute counter (in chronograph mode)
Case 47mm × 15.8mm; 18K white gold; water resistant to 30m
Dial Titanium/steel with rotating disks
Strap Leather with 18K white gold pin buckle