Montblanc

lagauvulin16
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After a month with my MB Flyback...

This is a follow-up of my post "A New Daily Sports Wearer on April 24th, 2009.

So, it is a slow Friday afternoon and so I thought I would share with all of you my follow-up with the Montblanc Flyback Chronograph.  I have had the pleasure of wearing this now for the last five weeks and had some additional insights.  In my initial review I mentioned that I thought the case was finely constructed and that it sat very well on my 6.75 in. wrist, the dial was very well laid out and that I appreciated the workhorse 7750 movement.

After promptly receiving this watch I took it on vacation with me to the Costa Del Sol for some fun in the South of Spain and I got to "abuse" it a bit more in the elements.  Here are my thoughts:

1.  I prompty changed the leather band to a rubber band before departing on my trip.  Why a sports watch comes in leather I have no idea.  I appreciate the fact that for the most part every major City in the world has a Montblanc boutique and so service is pretty easy.  I really liked this fact as I have had issues trying to get new straps and deployants for my JLCs in a timely and easy manner.  There is something to be said of exclusivity vs. convenience and for a daily sports wearer I think that I am going to enjoy the convenience aspect of having a MB boutique nearby.  Anyway, I waked over to the MB boutique and asked for a rubber strap.  Easy enough and they had a nice thick rubber one on hand.  However, unfortunately, the deployant that comes with the leather strap does not fit the rubber one so I needed to get another deployant.  They did not have this, but being a MB boutique they called one of their other stores, told me to come back in an hour and my watch would be ready.  Perfect and friendly service.  Off I went to get a beer or two and returned in an hour.

2.  The rubber strap I really like, it is not as nice as my JLC rubber strap and quite honestly I have a custom Ted Su strap on a cheap divers watch in black kevlar that I like a bit more, but the strap overall is nice and is quite comfortable on my wrist.  The service was excellent and they took their time to fit me perfectly with the strap and deployant.  The deployant on the other hand I am not a big fan of.  To me it feels a bit flimsy and I do not like the look of the dual push button deployants.  It is a personal thing, but they just do not feel secure.  I think that a dive strap or a sports strap should have a fold over deployant, especially if used for diving.  At the end of the day it is fine, but not impressed overall and I am seriously thinking about having Ted Su make me a custom strap with his great deployant for this watch as well.  Of course I lose the OEM deployant, but I would feel safer diving into the water with a hardier deployant keeping my watch anchored to my wrist.

3.  I dove several days with watch and it held up very well.  It is rated at 200 M (666 ft) and I was diving at about 30 M (100 ft) and had no issues at all.  The lume on the watch is excellent underwater, but I would have appreciated a bit larger hour markers and a larger illumination at the 12 marker on the uni-directional bezel.  I operated the chronograph function underwater as well, assuming that I could, without any probelm, but I only did this for a few minutes as I had no idea if I really was allowed to do this.  I figured I was, but nowhere did it say in the manual, I just remeber reading it somewhere.  Speaking of the manual, it sucks.  As does the box.  being Montblanc I at the very least expected more from the packaging.

4.  I was a little concerened about the screw down crown as it really takes no effort to loosen it and I was worried that maybe water would get in, coupled with the fact that the crown did not tightly sit against the case.  My Sea Dweller in this case is far superior as untightening the crown is a chore and when it is tightened sits firmly against the case, giving me piece of mind.  However, it seems that all worked fine with the MB as I have had no issues and had it down to 30M for several days, plus jumped off the end of the dive boat a dozen times just to swim so the gravitational force on the watch was probably fairly significant.  We will see how this holds up in the future.

5.  The uni-directional bezel is tight and finely constructed.  Much tighter than the JLC Diver GMT that I owned.  That bezel was like butter and something that I did not appreciate since I always thought it would get knocked around and move.  Granted only one way, but who wants to get less diving time.  I tried timing my dive as well with the chronograph, but could not see the minute hand.  Just me being pickly but I would have liked the minute to be being luminous as well instead of red.  The second hand as expected is luminous so you can see if the watch is working.

6.  Overall, was pleased, considering that this is really not a true dive watch, but as a sports watch that could be used for diving it did a very admirable job.  Other than the flimsy deployant and a need for larger makers, it was very good.

7.  On land, the watch has been fantastic.  The big date is excellent and I like it so much more than the new inverted bubbles on the new MB watches.  Plus, getting older these days I just appreciate the big date.  The chronograph has worked fine, but true to the Valjoux 7750 the pushers are a bit firm and require a nice push.  Resetting has not been an issue, however, I have on two occasions have had to reset twice to get all the hands back to the original and correct positions.  Again, a lack of a firm push seems to have been the culprit, although not sure if sitting on a shelf for a while caused this.

8.  Still not a fan of the "Montblanc" etched into the side of the case, a la Blancpain.  Thought I would get used to it but I have not as of yet.  I would prefer not to have it.  Same really goes with the MB star on the crown, but these are fairly small things.

So, overall, very happy with the durability, sportability and looks of the watch.  It is a perfect banging around watch that seems to take a beating very well and is perfect for my short sleeve summer attire where I tend to bang my watch into every object that I pass.

I apologizes for the lack of pictures, I will try to take some this weekend with the watch on my wrist.  My previous post had pictures of the watch, but not in action.

Have a great weekend.