To be able to create versatile designs, showcases how forward thinking a maison, or an individual craftsman, can be. It speaks of a mind that is not content with what it has created only for the here and now, but rather have itself be available for implementation into other endeavors, in another time.

For Montblanc, one object that is continuously proving itself to bear this quality this year, is its ExoTourbillon — which is an impressive mechanism in on its own because it’s not every day that you see a maison spend the effort to create its own unique version of the hallowed tourbillon.

But what is perhaps even more impressive is the dexterity that Montblanc has shown with their tourbillon, having transcended its expected appearance in more classical watches into the extremely avant-garde with the TimeWalker ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph, which was unveiled just ahead of SIHH 2016.

And now Montblanc is bringing the ExoTourbillon into one of their more decidedly feminine collections, the Bohème.

Since the collection’s introduction in 2014, Montblanc’s intention has always been for the Bohème watch to appeal to the woman of elegance — but always elegance with sophistication. It is therefore that we see that the collection has always borne complications — from the simple Bohème Date, to the Bohème Moongarden — which features a date function, the classic moon phase as well as the name of each month’s full moon instead of the traditional name of the month — to even a Bohème Perpetual Calendar.

Just launched in Beijing this evening, the new Bohème watches with the ExoTourbillon, however, are complex not necessarily because of a complication — but rather the execution of the movement that they Montblanc has come up with for the watches.

Montblanc was persistent that the movement for the watches would have to be an automatic one — an automatic movement that had to be ever so carefully designed such that the watch’s chronometry would not be compromised as a result of the addition of a rotor on the back of a tourbillon regulated timepiece.

It was, therefore, ascertained that the new movement, the M29.24, would have a mirco-rotor borne by two ball bearings to ensure the rotor is able to accelerate adequately in order to provide energy efficiently for storage in the barrel.

There are three versions of the Bohème ExoTourbillon Slim that are being unveiled here in Beijing today. The first — the Montblanc Bohème ExoTourbillon Slim comes in an 18K red gold case with its bezel decorated with 58 Top Wesselton diamonds. The second, the Bohème ExoTourbillon Slim Jewelry comes in the same case, except that its dial is now made of white mother-of-pearl, paved with 144 Top Wesselton diamonds.

The third version, the Montblanc Bohème ExoTourbillon Slim 110 Years Anniversary, which, as the name suggests is intended to celebrate the maison’s 110th anniversary, will be produced in an exclusive run of 10 pieces. Here the dial bears the iconic serpent from the historic Rouge et Noir line of the maison’s writing instrument, with its serpent clip, which also served as inspiration for 2016’s new Heritage Rouge & Noir Collection.

The serpentine dial here is executed in white mother-of-pearl, with a red-gold plated faceted structure that gives form to the watch’s habitant creature.  Its scaled skin is then painted with blue lacquer and then set with 55 Top Wesselton diamonds, with two rubies that depict its eyes.

Summarizing the evolution of the Bohème to this point of evolution, Jens Henning Koch (Executive Vice President Marketing, Montblanc) had these words to share, “Bohème started with the philosophy of creating a timepiece for the self-confident lady of substance, who is pursuit of her own destiny. With such a strong character to cater for, we created timepieces in the collection with many mechanical complications that were poetic — such as the Moongarden.

We are extremely encouraged by how women have responded to this formula we have used to create watches for the collection and, therefore, we had to further this exercise.

Thus we are very excited to bring the Bohème ExoTourbillon to the market because it quite possibly represents the pinnacle expression of feminine elegance paired with high sophistication.”