The Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds offers a summer exhibition organised in partnership with Montblanc and entitled “Writing time? Two centuries of chronograph history”. For a watch brand that achieved initial world renown for its writing instruments, sponsoring a themed exhibition of which the etymology is closely associated with its historical roots is a doubly judicious move. It is worth recalling that the Greek origins of the word “chronograph” mean writing time. This invention dates back to 1821 and was attributed to Nicolas Rieussec, to whom Montblanc has paid tribute since 2008 by an eponymous collection of single-pusher column-wheel chronographs with vertical coupling-clutch and driven by a movement entirely made in Montblanc’s Le Locle workshops. Covering the past 190 years, the impressive array of innovations dedicated to the measurement of short time lapses and their practical applications is concentrated within this exhibition jointly presented by the MIH and Montblanc and which also highlights certain historical or recent pieces never yet revealed to the public at large. Montblanc’s support is part of its determination to preserve and enrich the realm of expertise of Swiss fine watchmaking, as also reflected in the book published last year by Flammarion and entitled “Writing Time”, and even more profoundly in the 2007 acquisition of the Manufacture Minerva (a priceless fine watchmaking treasure) and the creation of the Minerva Foundation – of which the sole purpose is to “ support all projects in relation with the conservation and development of know-how in traditional watchmaking”. The exhibition is due to run from April 7th through October 2nd 2011.