Review: Monta Skyquest GMT

With an emphasis on slow iteration and “get it right the first time” design, Monta has been putting out a very consistent line of watches since 2016. It doesn’t take much perusal of Instagram or collector circles to find enthusiasts of the brand. In spite of this, Monta represents a personal conundrum for me.

On the one hand, it is a brand focused on things I like in watches: slimness, refinement, and a polished, classic aesthetic. (I’ve had my brief flings with overbuilt, utility-focused watches—I will no longer use the phrase “tool watch” in any context—in the past and they were enough for me to realize they’re not what I gravitate towards.)

On the other hand, Monta got a lot of fast, heavy press in watch media. For a time in 2019 through 2020 it seemed that podcasts and blogs could hardly stop gushing about them, and that kind of turned me off to the brand. In watch media the hype can often be attributed to paid marketing and cronyism. Though I certainly do not accuse Monta of being a participant in this or mean to imply it in any way, it left a bad taste in my contrarian mouth. Yes, that’s probably a Me Problem, but it’s true nonetheless.

Monta’s a brand from my home state of Missouri—I like that. Though I have no personal connection with them, the owners seem like nice guys. And the watches are certainly no slouch. So, I am very happy to have had some time with a Monta Skyquest, loaned in by a friend, and to put my thoughts down in writing.

The Case

Everyone who reviews Monta raves about the finishing. We’ll leave that for later. More impressive to me is the design and execution. The Monta Skyquest case perplexes me. It’s slab-sided, with flat lugs that look long on paper. There’s little of that downturn to them, that makes a watch wear well for its dimensions. Yet in spite of this—and I honestly have no idea how or why this is—this case wears incredibly well. Unnervingly well. I have a 7” wrist, and when this watch is on, I don’t notice a thing about it until I look down. The wearing experience is incredibly comfortable and just feels right. 

The watch is noticeably lightweight on the wrist as well—and let me stop you before you begin to equate lightness with cheapness. For any given watch (and every watch is different) there’s a sweet spot between heavy and light that greatly affects the wearing experience. Too light and the watch can feel plasticky and unbalanced with the strap or bracelet.  Too heavy and no matter how well it’s designed it will lurch about on the wrist and constantly remind you of its ungainliness. Heavier is not always better; this isn’t the microbrand world of 2015. So, props therefore to Monta for nailing the weight. The result is that this watch stays firmly in place on the wrist and does not slide around, even with the bracelet loosened.

Alright, the finishing. It’s excellent. The top edges of the lugs are brushed, the sides polished, and bevels abound—on the outside edges of the case, the crown guards, even the inside of the lugs. I love these features on a watch case—anything to give it more dimension and visual interest. On the Skyquest, however, a number of them look to me just like worn down edges. I think the cause of this could be the finish type: when a polished bevel leads down to a polished side, there’s little to differentiate the two visually. A polished bezel in between two brushed surfaces, or vice versa, has a much sharper and more striking look. The bevels on the inside of the lugs are a very nice touch, but it’s so small that, again, it looks like a shiny worn edge to me.

The bidirectional bezel of the Monta Skyquest has 72 clicks and is one of the few things I did not enjoy about the watch. The attention to detail is appreciated in that it is not just another 60 or 120 click bezel, but why 72? Unless my math is off, that equates to three positions per hour—an odd and dubiously useful number. 48 clicks makes much more sense to me, as this allows you to set it to half-hours, the offset of most if not all oddball time zones. With 72 you don’t even have that ability. It’s certainly a small thing, but why?

To its credit, the bezel insert is ceramic with the numbers filled in with paint. It’s clean and attractive and pairs well with the dial. No problems there. Turning the bezel through those 72 clicks, though, is my other complaint. The action itself, more of a “thud” than a “click,” is ok but not particularly my preference. It’s not bad, but it’s quite hard to turn. I suppose some people like a stiff watch bezel, but I’m not one. Particularly in a bezel that’s not even nominally mission critical, I think ease of operation could be improved.

The Dial

The dial and handset on the Skyquest are fantastic. I love the handset design: a bold, wide sword hand for the hours, pencil hand for the minutes, and a beautifully slender seconds hand with a diamond-shaped, lumed tip and a sword-like counterbalance. The GMT hand is lumed as well, and cleverly stepped to sit flat on the dial but also rise over the indices. The handset is the first place you’ll hear me ooh and ahh over the finishing, and there’s good reason for it. They’re fully polished with edges and angles that look sharp enough to cut. This is one of my favorite handsets of any watch.

The low reflective surface of the matte black dial provides a nice, muted canvas for the highly polished furniture, though I wonder how this would look with a gloss dial (I like glossy dials). Printing on the dial is sharp and well done, and like the handset, the indices are stunning: highly polished gilt with that stark white lume infill.

Add to all this a beautifully even fill of brilliant white lume (not greenish in the least, and really the smoothness of it is a joy). The lume itself is excellent and lasts plenty long into the night.

The Rest

This seems as good a place as any to mention the crown—one design choice I really like. The crown is polished, slightly tapered, and looks great. It is a little small, though. Compared to trends in microbrand watches it’s quite small- but it should be. Anything larger would be ungainly and disruptive to the entire presence. I’ll gladly put up with a little more finger pressure when setting or winding, in exchange for the cohesion it lends the entire watch. (I’ll note here that about halfway through the original Monta Skyquest’s lifespan, the brand redesigned the crown guards to make the crown easier to grip.)

The bracelet included with this watch is another thing everyone talks about. Do angels actually sing when you drape it on and click that clasp? Well, pretty much. The links are fully articulated, a big selling point amongst micros in 2022 and one I think Monta kind of pioneered. Just how useful that is I don’t know, as I don’t wear my bracelets upside down, but if that is the reason each link flexes so smoothly then sign me up. The more important thing to me is how thin the links are—not “how thin can we possibly make this” but the obvious fruit of careful attention to what actually feels best. They’re a joy to feel and look at, smooth and immensely comfortable on wrist.

In my mind the clasp felt a bit long. After looking back at my photos, I wondered why I had that impression as it seems reasonable in length visually. I think it may have just been that it was very narrow, as the bracelet tapers a good 4mm total. It’s very well made, beautifully finished, and has a toolless microadjustment system that takes just a little getting used to, but once there, is just as delightful as any of its kind. Nothing at all beats a toolless adjustable clasp; don’t try one unless you’re prepared to be a clasp snob for the rest of your life.

For all that I have criticized some aspects of the Skyquest, there are a lot of little things about it that Monta is getting really, really right. For a lot of micro/small independent brands, certain watch features seem to be viewed as dogma—a 120 click bezel is better than 60 clicks, a bigger crown is always better than a smaller one, bracelet screw links are better than pin and collar, ceramic is always better than aluminum, and the beefier your bracelet the better.

I love that Monta has rejected some of this stuff. A lot of these are things that in themselves are not actually superior, but in times past used to be indicators of a higher quality in general. A bigger crown is easier to grip, for sure, but I’ll just say it: there are way too many watches out there with crowns that look like something you should nervously be seeing a doctor about. Low to middling quality bracelet screw links are a thousand times more frustrating than a simple pin and collar—take it from someone who’s never stripped out a pin and collar. And don’t get me started on huge, thick bracelets that are impossible to get comfortable.

After several weeks of wearing, using, and interacting with the Skyquest, I do feel that there is real substance there and that if you like the design, you will not be disappointed by the craftsmanship. I don’t think the Skyquest is for me in particular, but I’m convinced after my time with it that what Monta offers is the real deal.

While the Monta Skyquest is no longer available, a new iteration is expected later this year. In the meantime, keep an eye on the secondary market or head to the Monta website to learn more.