Hands-On: the Monta Noble 40

I’ve been doing this long enough that by now I probably should have reviewed a Monta. For whatever reason, I just haven’t had the chance. It’s kind of like living in Cooperstown and never going to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Inexplicable. 

Of course, I’ve handled plenty of Montas over the years. They’ve been a presence at Windup Watch Fairs, and I’ve known many, many collectors who have owned Monta watches of various stripes, and I’ve tried them on and taken the requisite wrist shots at meetups and events through the years. This time around, with the release of the new Monta Noble 40, I was finally able to spend some real time with a Monta. Like all Monta watches it’s technically excellent, but the updates make it feel a little less special than its predecessor. 

The Noble, along with the Triumph, is the most stripped down watch in the Monta collection. It’s not a big burly tool watch, and it doesn’t have a complication beyond the date at 6:00. It’s a bit of a cliche, but you could say that it boils down Monta to its essence, which is a really solid, value oriented, everyday watch with impeccable finishing for the price. I’ll probably keep coming back to the finishing, because it’s really the strength of all Monta watches that I’ve had a chance to handle, and that’s been the case consistently since the brand was founded. They just have a very good idea of what they’re after in terms of how their cases and bracelets should look and feel, and they’ve clearly developed a relationship with their manufacturing partners that allows them to achieve exactly that. 

The Noble 40 is an update to the previous iteration of the Noble, with the most pertinent change being the case size, which represents an increase of about 1.5mm. Monta notes that the original Noble (and Noble Voyager) will remain in the collection, so the new upsized version here is not a replacement, but simply a new option. According to Monta, they’ve landed at 40mm over the previous version’s 38.5mm diameter after realizing that this is the size where “proportion, comfort, and versatility converge.” That’s language from their press release – I imagine they received feedback from clients that a larger size would sell well. I’m quite certain it will, but I don’t think there’s necessarily anything better about this watch at 40mm (for the average wrist) than this watch at 38.5mm. It’s simply a matter of personal preference, your own wrist biology, and what you find comfortable and aesthetically pleasing when you check the time. This new watch is also a bit thicker (10.5mm versus 9.7mm) but importantly it does get you an extra 50 meters of water resistance, upping the rating to 200 meters. 

Monta sent both the 38.5mm and 40mm versions of this watch, and I have to be honest: I found the 38.5mm version to be significantly better on my wrist, and attuned to my own preferences. Seeing them side by side, the new Noble 40 appears kind of huge, which is just not what this type of watch should ever present as, in my opinion. The Noble was conceived as, and has always been, a sleek and easy to wear daily driver, the type of watch that could go from the beach to the boardroom, as they say. At 40mm, it loses a lot of that discretion, and enters “big sports watch” territory.