Montblanc - Jerome Lambert visits Japan; A Short Interview

KIH

As recently reported here, Jerome Lambert was here for the ceremony to present the special pen made from the "Miracle Pine Tree".

And he kindly invited me to have breakfast together the following morning. Here is a brief but interesting, as always, talk with him.

Before his arrival to the breakfast, my good friend, Maxime Harrar showed me some of the novelties.

Montblanc Heritage Spirit Obris Terrarum in SS case.

41mm

Montblanc Heritage Chronometry Dual Time

41mm. Nice blue hands....

Montblanc Meisterstuck Heritage Moonphase on Maxime's wrist.

Thank you, as always, Maxime!

Now, the main character arrived with the latest Villeret Metamorphosis II, which just came off Mr. Lambert's wrist.

A bit too big for my wrist. That said, wonderful machine!

Oops, I had this just to show Jerome

Now the time for a little chit-chat with Mr. Lambert.

KIH: Good morning. i just heard the story of the "Miracle Pine Tree" Pen from Maxime. I really appreciate and that will certainly be a great gift to the devastated area.

Jerome Lambert ("JL"): We thought it was a great idea because although the tree after all died, the branch will have new life in our special pen. Wanted to give the area something positive and the end product is very beautiful.

KIH: The "Miracle Pine Tree" is the symbol of the restoration effort of the area, where there are still so many people still struggling, living in the shelter, etc. You really did a great good to Japan.

JL: I was so impressed by the commitment of the city officials including but not limited to the Mayer. They are so firmly committed to restore or rebuild the city and they all looked tired, exhausted.

KIH: If you had let me know of your visit to the area, I would have tagged along. It's important for Japan and to see you guys do something noble and good, I want to be there.

Maxime Harrar ("MH"): Okay, next time we go there, we will let you know

KIH: Okay, let's talk about the watches. First of all, congratulations on your successful show at SIHH. My first question is "how did you come up with the theme 'Vasco da Gama' this year"?

JL: Our thought process was like this. As a watch brand, we have always been obsessed with the chronometry, which requires precision. So, that would have been for a navigator, and we thought what navigator or who represents chronometry most - the sea explorer in the past. Thus, we came up with the name Vasco da Gama who explored the new world with the chronometric precision, looking up the sky at night, connecting east and west, north and south. So, that was the origin of the theme for this year.

KIH: How did the people respond to the new theme?

JL: This year was the greatest SIHH. Very well balanced between "Orbis Terrarum" and "Chronometry" represented by Vasco da Gama and Exo-Tourbillon, etc. These two lines are the strongest ones and have been perceived very well.

KIH: You have also introduced troubillon model at very reasonable price range. It must have sent a shock wave to the industry. Would you talk about it a little bit?

JL: Haha. We always think like this. We think of the function it does, precision it shows, and emotion it gives. Monopusher chronograph, tourbillon with stop second - these are highly technical stuff, but when we decide the price, it must be the right ratio with the function it does and the joy it gives you.

KIH: I hope everyone think that way. Then, what is your strategy to spread such concept and products in the world more and more?

JL: I believe in content. Montblanc has been the king of the writing instrument, and that is the result of the big effort in the past. Then, if you work with the same consistency, same effort, in all the categories you follow - Montblanc invests and maintains two manufactures - maintain core activities, beautiful fine watchmaking, and then, I believe the intelligence of the world will find the truly amazing unique piece and they will surely choose it.

JL: People would want more from us, and we would have to prove more, probably. It would be a good challenge when I see the technical creativity and the constraints - because we have to do in the certain price range. In our price range, no one else does like we do (with complication) and it is a very interesting challenge. In philosophy, I think it very much agrees with the philosophy of "PuristS". It was always said that the watches below USD5,000., you don't bring in complication because the clients don't understand. It is not a question of price but a question of philosophy. Once it was believed that under USD5,000 or EUR5,000. watches are for the beginners, the first ever watch to own, so complication is not something they want. But I have radically different view. Thanks to the information source like PuristSPro, the time has changed. People are capable of understanding what is inside and that is not a question of the price. We bring in what we can within the constraint - no matter what price range it is in.

KIH: Thank you very much for your time.

JL: Thank you. Always fun to visit Japan and see you over the breakfast.

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Very interesting philosophy of Montblanc, and I can't help expecting a lot more from this brand going forward.

Thank you very much:

Mr. Jerome Lambert, CEO, Montblanc International

Mr. Maxime Harrar, CEO, Montblanc Japan

Mr. Shingo Hisai, PR, Montblanc Japan

Best,

Ken

This message has been edited by KIH on 2015-03-05 07:47:51

Comments:

amanico March 6th, 2015-05:28

Thanks for this interview, Mr Lambert and Ken. I must say that one of the pièces I preferred during this SIHH was the Orbis Terrarum. I had some doubts, some questions, and now I have some convinctions. Always great to have a conversation with Jérôme Lambert. Best, Nicolas

jrwong23 (aka watchthebin) March 6th, 2015-22:56

Great interview Ken! Am sure you had a great time with Jerome :) I am very happy to see Montblanc living out the concept of "sharing the passion for fine watchmaking". Offering such complications as a real Worldtime and their ExoTourbillon chronograph at very reasonable price...

blomman Mr Blue March 6th, 2015-23:59

Thank you for a great read, Ken! :) Mr. Lambert will I am sure do great things with Montblanc! I "blame" him for me got sucked into JLC many years ago.... ;) Best Blomman

MichaelC March 8th, 2015-09:12

Awesome Ken. Mr. Lambert sure gets it. This brand is as exciting as any right now.

patrick_y March 26th, 2015-17:21

Thanks Ken. I'm pleased to hear that Jerome Lambert thinks that the market is now going to be driven by the watches in the 5000 Euro range. It seems that all of these latest big complications from the big brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, A. Lange &...

KIH March 27th, 2015-04:39

Nah, that was a pleasant surprise for me, too!

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amanico

Montblanc SIHH 2015: Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum Comparative Review.

amanico

The new Montblanc World Time has a long, very long but poetic name: Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum, and provoked some strong and long discussions, when the first official pictures were posted. I am sorry to say, but the official pictures didn't give justice to this watch. The dial looked flat, the colors were a bit dull, and well... Not a lot of appeal.

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