'Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.'
Carl Sagan

That reading is the path should be obvious to all PuristS; after all, we spend a good deal of our spare time here at Watchprosite, reading and interacting (i.e. writing) about one of our favourite hobbies, watches. So let me delve right into enabling you a further reading experience here, from the Montblanc Boutique reopening in Vienna.

So on May the 10th we got a presentation of the newly updated premises, as well as some other current highlights of the Montblanc collection. 



Writing Instruments

In addition to being an accomplished watch maker in the meantime (with 20 years under its own name and 159 years as Minerva), Montblanc has that other side business of producing writing instruments (as well as leather goods and (primarily) male jewelry). And the new Boutique definitely manages to showcase that part of the business well. 

We were privy to a presentation on how a correct pen is selected. My awful handwriting left handed self was really impressed at the science that goes into the selection of the correct nib to ensure that your writing style is best accomodated. In addition to a wide range of standard tips (luckily these can be exchanged free of charge within a period of time, if the pen was a gift and you do not know what type of pen person the recipient is), there is the full customising range available - a truly bespoke nib taking care of your writing habits as well as design sensibilities is just a writing test away. 

The writing test is relatively straightforward. A standard text needs to be hand written by the test subject with a specially modified pen that then records in all the finesse your writing peculiarities, including the angle at which the pen is held, the rotation of your wrist, the pressure applied, etc. 

The result then looks a bit like the picture below. There is a zoom functionality that allows in-depth analysis of every aspect, including some form of thermal chart (capturing parts, where you wrote but not in a way that ink marked the paper), and this then allows the selection of the appropriate 'off the rack' nib, or forms the data needed for the nib specialists in Hamburg to make you a bespoke one fully fiting your handwriting.

Again, I have to say my eyes were opened to the technology that goes into pens and into improving them further these days. Something that may yet result in an additional collecting area. The demonstration pen below, for instance, is made of a transparent material to showcase the air bubble technology used by Montblanc to ensure correct ink drainage / dosage during writing. And the passion apparent is definitely in line with what we expect from our watch makers and watch manufactures. 

Watches

Pens and writing are certainly nice but not the primary interest of most of our members, so without further ado to the watches. While waiting for the 1858 collection in Bronze and the new TimeWalker line to arrive, the two recent already released 2017 highlights have been the UNICEF range and the new Montblanc Summit.

I have already reported on the UNICEF collaboration (here: www.watchprosite.com and here: www.watchprosite.com for more details) before - but let me recap. Montblanc and UNICEF have joined forces to aid in children's literacy in the developing world and 10% of the proceeds of all sales of the UNICEF range of Montblanc products gets donated towards that cause. There is a broad offer out there - from notepads, via cufflinks, bracelets, Augmented Paper pads, pens and of course watches. 

The model selected is - fittingly - the Heritage Spirit Orbis Terrarum. In its UNICEF form it comes in three 500 piece Limited Editions, with Latin, Chinese and Arabic script city rings respectively. All come fitted with the blue - UNICEF - coloured croc strap and have the logo etched on the back sapphire.

Finally, the Summit. It has been a piece widely splitting opinions amongst the Purists (see here: www.watchprosite.com for a heated debate on the pro's and con's). Having tried it on, and played with it, I still feel it was not a bad choice for Montblanc to launch the product (whether the 1858 Tachymeter watchface option was a right choice will probably remain in the eye of the beholder). 

As Ken has mentioned in his review (more: www.watchprosite.com here), the first thing you notice is the unusual ratio between size and weight. They only had the steel versions to try on - titanium should be even lighter - and these were feather light for the size, relatively speaking. While I am a committed fan of light watches (and a real advocate of titanium), this would probably take some getting used to even for me. If platinum is your other poison, this may be quite novel and potentially disturbing.

As for the functionality, you will get all that an Android Wear™ 2.0 offers, with a decent user interface and trouble free usability. And it will attract people to the brand, who are not yet strongly into mechanical watches (but can grow into them), as well as the odd customer, who will add it to their collection of otherwise mechanical pieces. 

It may not be Swiss made but lots of details have been sweated, like with the iWatch. The straps are excellent and there is a strap changing mechanism, allowing even non-horologists to change them daily to fit their sartorial choices. In spite of its size it sits comfortably on the wrist. The weight, as said, will not be a problem for female wearers, even if the size might be a bit daunting at 46mm. So overall a well designed product, even if it is unlikely to produce ecstatic PuristS relentlessly waxing lyrical about it. 

I will have a more extended look at it, when the titanium option arrives, and will keep you posted with new developments more generally. 

Once again thanks to Montblanc and to the Vienna Boutique for a lovely event and for some quite exciting novelties. As seen in the opening shot, I have done my bit in supporting child literacy (or at least started on it) and would definitely encourage you to have a look at the current collection - whether pen, watch, leather goods or jewelry.

Thanks for reading!