Montblanc’s Latest Iced Sea Watches Might Be 2024’s Best Affordable Divers

When a watch bags itself a nickname the reason is usually because it’s immediately struck a chord with the watch fraternity. Be it Pepsi, Dark Lord, or Tuna, Rolex, TAG Heuer and Seiko respectively know this only too well. And the Montblanc Iced Sea, or Iced Tea as the cool kids call it, is the latest watch to hit the nickname jackpot.

“The Montblanc Iced Sea collection is a success because its history and the characteristics of the watch make it unique,” says Laurent Lecamp, Montblanc’s global MD, about the diver whose reputation has skyrocketed more than any other watch in the past 24 months.

First and foremost, the inspiration behind it: “The mer de glace [sea of ice] in the Mont Blanc massif!” exclaims Lecamp. As part of the process for designing the Iced Sea, Lecamp and his team took a geography field trip of sorts up the mountains to grasp why their brand had been named after a specific summit in the Alps. At the top, Lecamp says they took a picture of the glacier and sent it to a Swiss supplier with one very specific aim—to create the first glacier dial ever in the watchmaking industry.

“The process is really complex and requires 30 steps in 30 days,” says Lecamp. “But the final result is really impressive.” To achieve what Lecamp describes as “such a hypnotic look,” watchmakers use a 19th century technique called ‘gratté boisé’ and all the colors of the Iced Sea dials are inspired by the colours of glaciers in nature—which brings us to the three new colors that Lecamp et al have just dropped.

By far the most eye-catching is the new red Iced Sea. “All the colors of the Iced Sea collection are taken from nature. Sometimes at altitudes of over 3,000 meters we can see curious red spots on the snow, which indicate the presence of a snow algae called chlamydomonas nivalis,” says Lecamp in reference to the specific inspiration behind the color. “What is audacious is not the choice of colors but the constant research of innovation, technique of our dials, choice of materials and colored backgrounds by oxidation of laser,” he adds.