Minerva Villeret, Montblanc’s new Fine Watch signature

In September 2008, Minerva, a watch manufacturer in Villeret which joined Montblanc early last year, will celebrate its 150th anniversary. This will be a milestone in the history of the company, which opens wide the door to prestigious timepieces for Montblanc, in keeping with its strategy to move upscale in all its sectors of activity. For a number of years now, Montblanc has continued to diversify its product portfolio, introducing leathergoods in 1992, watches in 1997 and jewellery at the turn of the century. These three segments now account for 40% of the brand’s sales alongside writing instruments for which the brand ranks number-one worldwide.

A triple renovation

Anyone wishing to visit Minerva before the all-important date will be disappointed. The firm is in the midst of renovation and nothing will be revealed until the brand is ready to celebrate its century and a half of watchmaking. “The purpose of the investments we are currently making in Villeret is to safeguard the expertise and tradition of this manufacturer which still makes watches the traditional way, that is by hand,” explains Alexander Schmiedt, head of strategic product development at Montblanc. “This may add to the difficulties of production but for us it’s a matter of principle.”

Minerva will develop according to three points. “Our first priority has been to find young watchmakers whom we will train to work by hand, as is traditional at Minerva,” continues Alexander Schmiedt. “When Minerva joined Montblanc, it employed 22 people. There are now 32 and probably 45 by the end of the year. Most of the new recruits are watchmakers, constructors and prototypists, although some specialise in the watch’s regulating organ as the objective is for the company to develop more new products.”

Small is beautiful

The second phase in development concerns the actual premises, built in 1902 and now undergoing full renovation, with the same intention of safeguarding tradition. The third and final aspect of this investment, amounting to several million Swiss francs, concerns Minerva’s machinery and production tools. They too are being modernised to best accompany the manufacturer’s philosophy of handcrafted products. “These investments will enable us to pursue our strategy, which is to launch new calibres each year in limited editions of no more than 250 spread over two years,” explains Alexander Schmiedt. “Once they have been sold, a new movement will take the place of the previous one. This way our watches will retain their exclusive character that is 100% Villeret.”

Not that Minerva intends acting out the fable of the frog and the ox. “There’ll never be hundreds of us here,” concludes Alexander Schmiedt. “On the contrary. We want to preserve the small-company spirit that gives pride of place to watchmaking tradition, with production kept to around 250 watches and with finished products that are entirely made from the raw material. In a similar vein, we don’t intend upping the stakes with increasingly complicated movements, as the models we presented at the last Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, with two hand-wound single pushpiece chronographs and two authentic seconds, show. Given pre-sales at the SIHH, I think aficionados and collectors have understood and appreciate our philosophy. In fact we still haven’t delivered all the watches in this first batch, limited to 268.” Montblanc, which otherwise produces 100,000 watches, 70% with mechanical movements, dreamed of becoming a Manufacture. With Minerva Villeret, that dream has come true.