Montblanc

u-man
2

• Show profile
• Show other posts

My Honolulu Boutique experience.

Thanks for the welcome!

Well, I went to the MB Boutique today and wouldn't you know my phone was dead! :-(.  But I did get to see the red gold Rieussec Open Date.  My salesguy told me that the watch was being shipped to Palm Springs (Florida, I think), but they held it one more day in Honolulu for me so that I could see it in case I wanted to order the Steel model.  You're right, the skeletonized chrono dials are hard to read, the seconds one isn't so bad, the minutes sub is pretty cryptic.  But that wasn't really a deal breaker for me.  I really  liked the power reserve indicator on the back, along the edge of the case back (on the metal) were engraved markers and the numbers: 24, 48, 72 which was a nice touch, I thought, for the power reserve.  The red gold is striking, but more than I'm sure I could afford. One thing that bugged me a bit because it is a pet peeve of mine is that there was no lume on the hands.  I hate it when I'm driving at night and can't read my watch. 

Of course there is a waiting list for the steel version.  As I sat in the store, the waiting list grew.  When I first got there, they told me if I ordered the Steel version today, it would be the end of November before I saw anything (which I didn't believe).  Then they called a regional somebody and the wait grew to 2 months.  By the end of my visit, the wait list was at least six months.  I figured that it would probably be more like year before I would see the watch I ordered, not being any type of special Montblanc customer or anything.  So that, along with the extra $4,000 they wanted for the Open Date vs. the Automatic was part of the decision for me.  I think they told me the steel Rieussec Open Date was $13,490.

So, I walked out of the store with the Rieussec Automatic on the Stainless Steel bracelet (I'm a bracelet guy because it seems like straps can really stretch a lot out here in Hawaii).  They still have a Rieussec Automatic on the black crocodile strap in stock in Honolulu. The watch comes in an impossibly big box that has only the watch and a pillow in it.  There is a 2-year warranty booklet; it was wierd to watch them stamp the warranty because I had never bought a watch in person from an AD before.  They seemed to think that the Montblanc repair facility in Texas (I think) would handle minor issues, although regional somebody said Rieussecs were also sent to Le Locle. Anyway here's a terrible quicky photo of the Rieussec in the wild: