In 2007 Montblanc's watchmaking expertise was further enhanced by the creation of

the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie in Villeret, in the Bernese

Jura, Switzerland, a foundation dedicated to classical fine watchmaking and the
upholding of traditional skills and special complications.

The Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie in Villeret. The building

served as the Minerva headquarter since 1902.

This important event in the history of Montblanc followed the acquisition by Swiss
luxury goods group Richemont of the Fabrique d'Horlogerie Minerva SA and its
exceptional watchmaking know-how. Richemont assigned the newly acquired watch
manufacture to Montblanc, one of the prestigious luxury brands it owns.

Over the last decade, Montblanc has been exploring Minerva's incredible heritage,
finding inspiration in historical functions, mechanics and design codes and
perpetuating 160 years of uninterrupted tradition of a manufacture famed for its
exceptional handmade movements.

Villeret’s watchmaking tradition began in 1858 when brothers Charles and Hyppolite
Robert founded the company "H. & C. Robert", later becoming just "C. Robert" when
only Charles remained, then changing again to "Robert Frères Villeret" in 1878 when
his sons Charles and Georges, and later also Yvan Robert (1840-1912), took over the
leadership of the company.
The company began registering brands in 1886, starting with "Mercure", adding
"Minerva" (the goddess of farming, craftsmanship and science) in 1887, and "Ariana",
"Tropic", and others in 1898. Each with its own logo and products, these brands were
associated to the "RFV"  logo characterized by an arrow, a symbol which became a
signature of the brand. 
Initially operating as an “etablisseur” of pocket watches using movements of third
parties, "Robert Frères Villeret" took part in the "Expositions universelles" in
Antwerp and 1889 at the Paris World Exhibition winning medals for their watches at
both exhibitions.

From 1895 "Robert Frères Villeret" began with the production of its own watch
movements.

The first was the 18-ligne No. 1 movement with cylinder escapement which remained
in production until 1941, as well as the No. 2 caliber 18- or 19-ligne movement with a
Swiss lever escapement. 
Minerva referred to their calibres by size, in ligne, and sequence number. Therefore
all calibres sized around 18 ligne would be called "Calibre 18” followed by a number.
So its first calibre was known as Calibre 18-1.

The third, introduced in 1903, was Calibre 19-3 and became known for its superior
finish. 

In 1902 the company moved in the buildings that are still in use today. The
uninterrupted production of mechanical movements in the same location for more
than a century and through the 1970s quartz crisis is definitely a rarity in the Swiss
watchmaking industry.

The Robert Freres Villeret factory in 1905

In 1908 Robert Freres began with the production of chronographs and stopwatches
and introduced their first chronograph movement, the Calibre 19-9.  Like most
Minerva chronographs, it did not feature a chronograph hour-counter but only the
minute-counter.
With the trade-mark Minerva, positioned at the top of the company's range, the
company gained worldwide recognition for its precise chronometry and became a
leading specialist in the fabrication of professional watches. Capable of measuring
time accurately to 1/100th of a second in 1916, its mechanical stopwatches were
fundamental to the evolution of modern-day motor racing.
Introduced in 1923 in Minerva-branded chronographs, the first 12 3/4- line
chronograph calibre from Minerva was number 20, so it became known as Calibre 13-
20. 

A column-wheel chronograph with a Breguet balance spring and 17 jewels, Calibre

13-20 was designed as a mono pusher but was available after 1940 in bi-pusher
configurations with 30- or 45-minute counters. It was one of the few chronograph
calibres on the market on its introduction and was developed in collaboration with
Dubois-Depraz. It was remarkably well-developed for the era and continued in
production for decades.

Watch enthusiasts are able to recognize Minerva's Calibre 13 by the unusual positions
of the pushers: Rather than being located between the crown and lugs at 30°, they are
moved toward the lugs at 37° from the crown. 
Considering the exceptional success of Minerva-branded products, in 1929 the whole
company was renamed to "Minerva SA, Villeret". 

Unfortunately, in the early 1930s the world financial crisis forced the Robert family
out of business and led to Minerva being taken over: in 1934, the watch engineer
Jacques Pelot, working for the company since 1921, and the mechanical technician
Charles Haussener became the new owners of the business. 

Their leadership brought to new successes as demonstrated by their appointment as

the official time-keepers of the Olympic ski events at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936
and the introduction of several new movements. 
In 1943 Andre Frey, the nephew of Jacques Pelot, designed a remarkable movement,
the Calibre 10-48 that was used for a watch model, called Pythagore. In designing this
movement Frey positioned the bridges using mathematical proportions defined by the
Golden Section (1.618...), the discovery of which is attributed to Pythagoras, hence
the name of the watch equipped with this Calibre. The Golden Section is a proportion
found frequently in nature that is often used in architecture and product design.
 Minerva's Calibre 10-48 (courtesy of ornatus-mundi.ch)
and, below, one of the Pythagore watch models housing it 
It must be noted that at the time the movement was not visible but hidden in the case.
Thus, the motivation to use the Golden Section for designing it was the pure pleasure
of creating a better product in line with a vision that was not constrained by merely
commercial issues.
Minerva vintage advertisements: in 1951 and, below, in 1956
In 1955 the shares of Jacques Pelot went over to his heir Andre Frey while, in 1960,
Maurice Favre, inherited the shares of his father-in-law Charles Haussener. Frey and
Favre led the company until 1989, then Jean-Jacques Frey took over the management
of the company together with his father Andre Frey.

During the quartz crisis of the 1970s, when the number of Swiss watch manufacturers
dropped from 1618 in 1970 to 632 in 1984, Minerva had the force to survive thanks to
the recognized quality of its mechanical chronographs. The rare capability to in-house
produce its own balance wheel and hairspring combined with the mastery of various
timekeeping frequencies, enabled Minerva to maintain its reputation in chronometric
precision among professionals and watch connoisseurs.

In 2000 the Frey family sold the company to new partners lead by Italian financier
Emilio Gnutti. Together with infrastructure and machinery investments, the new
organization hired new employees reinforcing a team lead by the new director, Beppe
Menaldo, and a talented and respected master watchmaker, Demetrio Cabiddu which
today is still the Technical Director of the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret.

Continuing the tradition of high quality manufacture products, in 2003 Minerva

presented four new calibers, two chronographs and two time-only, all of them hand-
wound.
The Minerva Cal. 62-00 (Hour, Minute, Small Seconds) was a redesign of the old
Calibre 48 with curved bridges design more typical of Minerva movements.
Diameter: 24 mm. Parts: 162.
 The Minerva Cal. 13-21 (Hour, Minute, Small Seconds with Monopusher
Chronograph) was the evolution of the original Calibre 13-20 with its recognisable
position of the pusher at 37° from the crown instead of the usual 30° angle.
Diameter: 29.5 mm. Parts: 239.
Minerva Cal. 16-15 (Hour, Minute, Small Seconds). Diameter: 38.4 mm. Parts: 158.
 The Minerva Cal. 16-29 (Hour, Minute, Small Seconds with Monopusher
Chronograph) was directly inspired by the pocket watch Calibre 17-29 produced in
1929.

In 2005 Minerva presented the Tourbillon Mystérieuse with the hand-wound Calibre
65-60 with an extra-large tourbillon cage (20 mm), 280 hand-finished components
and a power reserve of 100 hours.

The 47 mm rose gold case had an unusual shape with the bezel changing from convex
to concave over the 360 degrees.
The watch displayed the time on a 'mysterious' dial as 6 o'clock using sapphire disks
for the hours and minutes hands. The “D.C.” engraving on the back case was a tribute
to Demetrio Cabiddu who created it.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, in October 2006 the Swiss luxury
goods group Richemont bought the Fabrique d'Horlogerie Minerva SA so securing an
exceptional manufacture know-how.

One result of this acquisition was the partnership between Minerva and Montblanc
with Minerva becoming a department of Montblanc led under the name Institut
Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie (Minerva Institute for top watchmaking
art research).

Few years later, in 2010, Montblanc unveiled the Metamorphosis, the first watch
developed at its Institut Minerva. Deriving its name from its unique dual function and
faces, the Metamorphosis changed from a single time indication to a chronograph by
moving a slide up or down.
This model was followed in 2014 by the Metamorphosis II (we wrote about it here).

Today, the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret produces an entire line of timepieces -

the Collection Villeret 1858 - inspired to the Minerva heritage, strictly respecting
traditional horological operations which in large part are still meticulously performed
by hand.

At the same time the “Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie” acts as a
safeguard preserving and cultivating the exceptional chronographic expertise while
researching innovative technologies and concepts to keep enriching the art of
watchmaking.

By Alessandro Mazzardo
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