The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Collection has always found inspiration in nature, especially those undiscovered territories that fuel the imagination of today’s intrepid explorers. One such place is the South Pole on the Antarctic continent, located at the Earth’s southernmost point. This featureless icy plateau sits at an altitude of 2,835 m and has a desert-like climate with hardly any precipitation and zero humidity. This sounds almost pleasant, but make no mistake, the weather here is not kind with strong winds that can carry snow over the entire region and temperatures that can plunge to -65oC, making it one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

The Ultimate Explorer

Montblanc’s Mark-Maker Reinhold Messner made history in 1990 when he and explorer Arved Fuchs were the first men to cross Antarctica on foot with neither animal nor motorized support, covering a distance of 2,800 km, gradually climbing more than 3,000 m, while also pulling a sled weighing over 100 kg, few navigation instruments such as a compass to guide them. Tales of such extreme adventures to this wildly beautiful, yet uninviting place provide the inspiration for this new Montblanc 1858 Geosphere 0 Oxygen South Pole Exploration Limited Edition 1990 whose sfumato dial captures the iced blue tones of the icebergs and the layered glacial patterns of the Antarctic polar ice.

Leaving a Mark

On December 13th 2023, Montblanc will join Simon Messner in this unforgiving glacial landscape as he takes part in the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Born in 1990, the year that his father – mountaineer Reinhold Messner – crossed the South Pole, the accomplished athlete will attempt this test of wilderness with a Montblanc 1858 Geosphere 0 Oxygen South Pole Exploration Limited Edition on his wrist.

Setting off just a few hundred miles from the South Pole, at the foot of Ellsworth mountains, and at an altitude of 700 meters, the conditions underfoot will consist of snow and ice with temperatures hovering around the -20oC mark. And if that isn’t challenging enough, strong katabatic winds are known to sweep across the area.

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