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Consubstantial Montblanc
Watches and Wonders

Consubstantial Montblanc

Wednesday, 30 September 2015
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Christophe Roulet
Editor-in-chief, HH Journal

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3 min read

Exhibiting at Watches&Wonders, Montblanc is training the spotlight on its Heritage Chronométrie collection with technically sophisticated pieces that cover the full spectrum of mechanical watchmaking. Just to show that this expertise isn’t the preserve of a few.

First come, first served could be Montblanc’s new credo. With the Heritage Chronométrie collection, launched early this year, as its spearhead, the brand has embraced a more “democratic” view of Fine Watchmaking in price terms, but issued nonetheless as a series of limited editions. Of the many called, only 353 will be chosen. Henceforth, like every other brand at Watches&Wonders in Hong Kong, Montblanc has to “think global”. “We need to plan presentations of our new products from an annual perspective,” says Jens Henning Koch, Executive Vice President at Montblanc. “The jumping-off point remains, of course, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva, but we then need to take into consideration events such as Watches&Wonders for Asia, or SIAR in Mexico City which is growing in importance. Not forgetting the one-off events that serve to highlight a particular collection, such as the one we organised in Paris in July with our ambassador Charlotte Casiraghi, the daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, to present our Bohème collection, which we in fact unveiled here at Watches&Wonders last year.”

Its masterful mechanics but also its aggressive pricing.

Having thus set the tone, Montblanc was unlikely to come to this year’s fair empty-handed. On the menu are extensions to the Heritage Chronométrie line, the very one that set tongues wagging earlier in the year for its masterful mechanics but also its aggressive pricing. “I’m happy with the word aggressive as long as it takes in distinctive added value, including in the entry-level segment,” continues Jens Henning Koch. “At Montblanc, it’s all a matter of substance. Irrespective of the products in question. In other words, while Montblanc is clearly the world leader in writing instruments, the brand must live up to the reputation it has forged in each of its other businesses and particularly in watchmaking, a far more recent activity for Montblanc.” In more ancient parlance, dating back to 325 and the Council of Nicaea, this would be a question of consubstantiality, the indefectible bond between genitor and offspring.

"Lifetime companion"

True to this concept, Montblanc has given yet another demonstration of its watchmaking skills, underpinned these past years by the experience of Manufacture Minerva Villeret and its micromechanical exploits. In Hong Kong, as at SIHH, navigator Vasco da Gama takes pride of place through three watches in the Heritage Chronométrie line. They are, in the higher reaches, the ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph, completed by an Annual Calendar and a Dual Time, as “aggressively” priced as ever. These three executions of earlier launches, produced especially for Watches&Wonders, are joined by a new interpretation of the Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique Géosphère, this time presented as eight Vasco da Gama NightSky. For those too slow off the mark, Montblanc is proposing the Heritage Spirit Perpetual Calendar with the distinction of a sapphire dial and, at a more accessible price point, the Meisterstück Heritage Spirit Date Automatic with guilloché dial.

Montblanc Bohème Day & Night

Nor has the brand forgotten its women customers, who account for 40% of its total sales. They have the choice of a Bohème Moongarden or a Bohème Day&Night with an opening in the dial onto a disc that shows, for the former, the names given to full moons over the year and, for the latter, the alternating periods of day and night. “In the space of a few years, Montblanc has acquired a reputation as much for the concept and finish of its movements as for its watches’ design,” concludes Jens Henning Koch. “We say our products are “lifetime companions” and I believe this title is fully deserved.”

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