The Monta Noble Mint Dial Is A Breath Of Fresh Air
It’s hard not to enjoy what the folks at Monta are doing. Making well-finished sporty watches with great bracelets is part and parcel of the job for the St. Louis-based crew. Today, we’ll briefly cover their fresh new release, the Monta Noble Mint Dial.
That’s right, Monta makes some of the nicest watches around if you’re looking for an approachable daily driver. Rather than diving into the retro theme or doing something too avant-garde, I’d categorize the independent company’s watches as mature. They’re fantastic alternatives to big-brand watches and can be worn for years without apology in almost any setting. Plus, if you’ve ever met Mike and Justin from the brand, they’re genuinely nice folks, and that rings through when it comes to their customer service. Admittedly, today’s Monta Noble Mint Dial gets a little funky for the brand, but it’s an attractive limited-edition piece. It also tells us that vivid dial colors are seemingly here to stay — not a bad thing!
The Noble Mint Dial
If you’re unfamiliar with the Monta Noble, let’s run through some quick specifications. This watch straddles the line between the somewhat nebulous “field watch” genre and the “dressy sports watch” category (think Datejust and you’re on the right track). Therefore, you can expect a rugged watch with reasonable dimensions. We’ll start with the latter as the Noble comes in at 38.5mm in diameter, 47mm lug to lug, and 9.7mm thick. The lug spacing is strap-pairing-friendly at 20mm. As far as sportiness goes, the Noble is water resistant to 150 meters and has a screw-down crown and screw-in case back. Naturally, the watch uses a sapphire crystal. Here, it’s flat with a beveled edge and a whopping seven layers of antireflective coating on its underside. Inside, and on display via the case back, is Monta’s M-22, a decorated Sellita SW300 automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve and date function.
The Monta Noble Mint dial doesn’t differ at all in the spec department from the regular blue, opalin silver, and anthracite versions. However, we’re here to talk about the dial because it is a standout. The folks from Monta tell us that they chose this hue because it reminds them of scooters and small cars along Italian beaches some 60 or 70 years ago. Thus, it should work well for all of those water-adjacent activities, from swimming to having a drink near the beach.
A dial for all wrists
The serial-production Noble models all feature sunburst-pattern dials. This Mint version, however, has a matte dial that should contrast nicely with the black font and polished rhodium-plated indices and hands. Normally, I’d beg for a date wheel in the same color as the dial, but the black-on-white scheme works here because Monta chose a bright white Super-LumiNova BGW9 lume. What’s more is that this dial color should appeal to just about anyone — in fact, my wife would really enjoy this watch.
Thoughts and pricing
Honestly, this is a watch that’s easy to like as long as mint green is up your alley. I’ve tried on this model before, and the fit is right in the wheelhouse of most wrists. It’s also hard to fault the finishing on the case and dial, something you’ll struggle to find on lower-priced microbrand watches. Finally, the highly articulated bracelet is the cherry on top of your mint chocolate chip ice cream. The Monta Noble Mint Dial will be available in a run of just 150 pieces for US$1,795 via the brand’s official site, and all watches will come on the fabulous Monta bracelet. Pre-orders begin on April 28th at 2PM Central Time, and deliveries are expected to take place in September 2023.
