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I recall being floored by a photo of a prototype 1979 Paul Newman Cosmograph Daytona reference 6263/6265 with a stunning red “panda” dial. Never put into production, only a handful of examples were made.  Considered a connoisseur’s prize by collectors, one had sold for over $400,000 at a Geneva auction back in 2003.  Now here it was on my wrist — reincarnated as a 42 mm Tudor special edition!

But it wasn’t just the dial. That wonderfully pliant, thickly bolstered integrated black calfskin strap with red stitching and single-fold deployant fixed with ceramic pins and secured by a clamshell clasp — it looked and felt amazing! Amazing too was the winding and setting action of the converted Valjoux 7750. Taut and crisply precise, there was none of the ropiness or excess play I’d experienced in some of the watches I’d owned.  The tactile sensation it provided made the Ducati Fastrider a joy to both wind and set.

There was only one problem.  Though I look back on it with a smile now, the $4,500 retail price was something I just couldn’t justify at the time.  $4,500 seemed like a lot of money to spend on a watch.  I had to pass on the Ducati.  (My, how things have changed!)

A couple years later, I spotted a like-new, pre-owned Fastrider Ducati on Chrono24 with box & papers for substantially less than the one I’d been tempted by in that Tudor boutique. This one an all-black version – both dial and strap.  Stark and sober, it had the understated cool its more exuberant, red dial cousin lacked. This time, I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. 

Okay, so why the detour down memory lane? I tell you this only to assure you I’m not exactly a neophyte when it comes to the subject of chronographs. I’ve paid my dues and upped the ante, acquiring pieces with more sophisticated and elegant movements throughout the years. Learning the distinction between modular and fully integrated; column wheel and cam actuated; vertical and lateral clutch; flyback and rattrapante.  Which brings me to the subject of this article …

The world’s most underrated chronograph?

Though I’ve heard many a self-proclaimed watch expert sing its praises, the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec was a chronograph I simply refused to consider. What business did a manufacturer of fine writing instruments have turning out watches – and an in-house chronograph with a true GMT function, no less?

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec GMT Chronograph (photo courtesy Quentin R. Bufogle)

No, no, no!  It simply wasn’t possible! It had taken Rolex nearly a hundred years to produce its own in-house chronograph movement, while the Trinity itself had routinely used ebauche movements purchased from JLC and Lemania rather than taking on the monumental task; the daunting investment of both time and capital required to produce a bon a fide, fully integrated automatic in-house chronograph movement – an undertaking that had nearly bankrupted Zenith in producing the El Primero.

No! This had to be a boondoggle of epic proportions! Montblanc has simply slapped a Dubois-Depraz module atop one of the entry-level ETA movements it’s typically used in earlier offerings …. Or perhaps a modestly decorated Valjoux 7750 with some engine turning and a few blued screws (dyed, not fired) installed with a fancy, gold-plated custom rotor just to make it all look sorta haute-horlogerie-ish?  

After all, Frank Muller had used a modified 7750 base in some of his $20K plus precious metal chronographs! What would you expect from the maker of expensive fountain pens?

I must admit. Thoughts similar to these entered my mind at the mere mention of the Nicolas Rieussec. I’m pleased to confess, I was wrong.

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