Montblanc

SJX
[Purist]
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Thoughts on Montblanc and brand legitimacy

I just received a copy of "Montblanc Writing Time", a recently released coffee table book detailing Montblanc's history as a penmaker and watchmaker, as well as a look at Minerva. It is a hefty, well researched tome with plenty of illustrations.

Fortunately this book is not merely a vanity project that is increasingly common in the industry. It has substance - there areenough interesting details to enough to keep the aficionado engaged but not so much that it puts the mildly interesting to sleep.

One section for example is devoted to the enamel dials of Minerva, with fold out pages showing dozens of historical Minerva dials, as well as a page on the step by step process of grand feu enamel dial production.

Vintage Minerva enamel dials 

Two thoughts crossed my mind after I had gone through this book. The first is that historically Minerva was a mid to upper tier watchmaker, in contrast to what it is now.

In the past its products were honest and well made, a few were high horology, but on average the brand was mid tier. The transition to high horology began when the Frey family (remember the Pythagore?) sold it to Italy's Hopa SpA which in turn sold it to Richemont.

When Richemont acquired Minerva, it was a toss-up between Montblanc, Panerai or one other brand (I recall it being Piaget), as to who would get the firm. And although Minerva was integrated into Montblanc, there are synergies (no takeover is complete without this word) with other group brands.

One of the most common criticisms of this takeover was that Montblanc was, in effect, buying legitimacy. Reading the book reminded me of that; I voiced that opinion on several occasions.

The Hamburg penmaker has always been a penmaker, despite some efforts to show a link to watchmaking in past press releases (that silliness has since stopped), until it unveiled its first watches in 1998.

From this...

to this.

But now that I give it some thought, this acquisition makes sense over the long term. In several decades time, Minerva would have been completed subsumed into Montblanc and they will be one and the same.

It won't even take that many decades, memories are short. Does it matter today Breguet was once a faded brand that acquired Nouvelle Lemania? And that amnesia is compounded by the power of good marketing. Montblanc has that skills in spades; it has transformed itself from a penmaker to a lifestyle brand in a decade.

When I speak of marketing, however, I intend no criticism of the product itself. The Villeret products themselves, especially the chronographs, are wonderful examples of classical stopwatches with top-end finishing.

Even the mid-range watches like the TimeWalker and Rieussec are well conceived products. All of that is chronicled in detail in the book, which will eventually be the mere first chapter in Montblanc's history as a watchmaker. 

- SJX

Lots of beautiful illustrations in the book