Montblanc

Montblanc had a pretty good show at this year's SIHH 2009 IMO.  Despite a smaller attendance at SIHH by dealers, press, and industry execs, it seemed as if the Montblanc booth had more traffic than at last year's SIHH 2008.  Everytime I was inside and walked by the Montblanc booth on Mon, Tues, and Wed, it definitely seemed more crowded than last year, so it appears what Montblanc is doing is definitely working.

To give a brief breakdown of the Montblanc watches, I consider them to have 3 segments of watches:

1. Entry Level Montblanc - watches with ETA movements such as the Star 4810, Time Walker, Sports Chronograph, etc.
2. Mid Level Montblanc - watches with in-house Nicolas Rieussec movement
3. High-end Level Montblanc - Minerva line


Let me start off with the entry level Montblancs.

Montblanc Sports Chronograph - black DLC on strap
- 44mm case
- high resistance to mechanical stresses and corrosion due to it DLC "Diamond Like Carbon" coating
- uni-directional bezel
- anti-reflective coating on both sides of the sapphire crystal
- estimated retail price $5,100






Montblanc Sports Chronograph in SS on bracelet
- 44mm case
- estimated retail price $4,500




Montblanc TimeWalker Ceramic Chronograph in RG
- last year's version was a black ceramic bezel w/ stainless steel case so it's not surprising to see a white ceramic case w/ white alligator strap as a new model for this year
- the black ceramic version also now available in RG as well
- 43mm case
- estimated retail price $16,500 & $25,500 (version with 72 bezel set diamonds)






Montblanc Star 4810 Chronograph Automatic
- last year's version was just a time and date in a 41.5mm case, so Montblanc added the chronograph feature to the Star 4810 and increased the case to 44mm
- available in both steel and rose gold variants
- estimated retail price 2,835 Euros (strap version)
- estimated retail price 3,000 Euros (bracelet version)






Montblanc Star Pluie D'Etoiles
- Ladies' automatic with diamonds on the bezel and dial
- dial variations of both blue mother-of-pearl and white mother-of-pearl






The next watch is from Montblanc's 2nd mid-level segment - Star Nicolas Rieussec

Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph Open Date
- uses the in-house MB R110 caliber which is a manual wind
- 43mm case
- the 2 chronograph discs at 4 & 7 o'clock are skeletonized a bit as well as the date disc above the center of the watch
- monopusher chronograph pusher at 8 o'clock
- estimated retail price $15,000 (stainless steel), $33,000 (rose gold), $55,000 (platinum - limited edition of 25 pieces)

I was already impressed with last year's Rieussec and with the addition of the cut-outs on the discs and dial along with the new date feature, this Nicolas Rieussec Open Date definitely is my favorite watch of the entire SIHH 2009 show.  It's not a design for everyone but for me, it's simply breaktaking and this watch is now at the very top of my wishlist.  I have a feeling that those who have placed orders for last year's Rieussec and have not received theirs yet will probably switch their orders and request to be put on the waitlist for this new Open Date.







Now let's take a look at the new Montblanc Minerva watches from the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie.

Montblanc Villeret 1858 Grand Chronographe Regulateur
- 47mm case
- 2 timezone feature
- day/night indicator for the home timezone
- unique power reserve indicator using 2 hands
- monopusher chronograph
- hinged cuvette on the back
- hands, dial, Roman numerals all in 18k gold (platinum version has mother-of-pearl inlays) and chronograph hand is in steel
- manual wind
- balance spring with Phillips terminal curve
- ebauche made of rhodium plated German silver
- available in white gold, rose gold, and platinum
- estimated retail price $84,500 (rose gold) and $91,000 (platinum)


The large hand in the center is the time minutes hand, and the time seconds hand is at 9 o'clock.



Pusher for the 2nd time zone is at 10 o'clock.







The day/night indicator for the home time is at 2 o'clock, and chronograph minutes is at 3 o'clock.



Power reserve indicator is at 6 o'clock.  When the watch is fully wound, the gold hand above the red hand will be positioned above the "HAUT" printing.  As the power dies down, the gold hand will slowly move to the right where it will stop in the above position.  Then the smaller red hand takes over as the power reserve indicator.  During this time, accuracy of the watch is not at its prime, so it's time to wind the watch!



At 12 o'clock is the home and local time hour hands.  The blue hand is the home time, and the upper skeleton hand is the local time which can be quickly adjusted by +1 using the quick hour adjuster at 10 o'clock.  The local time cannot be adjusted in 30 minute intervals but this will be something looked into as a future upgrade.





The mother-of-pearl inlays in this platinum piece gives the watch a beautiful look with the hand guilloched dial.

Not to take anything away from this watch, but I'm not sure why Montblanc keeps introducing more 47mm watches in its expensive Villeret line.  This Montblanc Villeret 1858 Grand Chronographe Regulateur is only available in 47mm right now, so I hope they will be able to make a smaller version because just the 47mm size will eliminate a lot of potential customers.

The high entry level pricing of these MB Villeret watches already limits a majority of collectors, so it's best not to scare away those who can afford these watches with these large 47mm cases.  It's better IMO to make watches where the size of the watch is in the vast majority of the target customer's preferred size rather than to create watches where the average collector needs to adapt his preference to the size of the watch.

People who wear 47mm watches, in general, are those who collect Panerai and AP Offshores.  Are these people the target customers that Montblanc is seeking for these amazingly finished watches?  Probably not if I may say so.  I think most will agree with me that the target customer should be people who appreciate finishing on Langes, Pateks, Dufours, and Voutilainens, and these brands watches are much smaller than 47mm.  I'm just speaking my mind, and I hope Montblanc takes these suggestions into account for the future. 

Please note that the above and below pictured movements are just prototypes so the finishing and plating of the movement are not completed.




Last year's Villeret 1858 47mm monopusher is available in several dial variants such as the above royal blue.


The smaller 41mm variant is shown above.


Here's a mother-of-pearl dial variant of last year's 47mm Montblanc Villeret 1858 Grande Seconde au Centre Retour-a-Zero.  When you pull out the crown, the second hands automatically resets to 0 and stays at 0 until the crown is pushed back in.  This makes for easy precise setting of the time.


Here's the smaller 41mm Seconde au Centre Retour-a-Zero.



Below is the Montblanc Villeret 1858 Grand Tourbillon Heures Mysterieuses which made its debut several months ago.  For more info and pictures of the Mystery Tourbillon, please check out SJX's thoughts on this watch that was posted in November 2008:  CLICK HERE




The above picture shows the massive depth of the dial.  Pictures definitely do not do this watch justice as you must see the Mystery Tourbillon in person to appreciate the true beauty of this timepiece.





For the Montblanc SIHH 2009 press releases, please CLICK HERE

Wow, the Montblanc Villeret 1858 Grand Chronographe Regulateur is really something.  The combination of a second time zone with chronograph AND set up as a regulator is amazing and the finish on the case and dial is awesome.  The only thing that seems not quite right to me is the disproportionate size of the power reserve indication, which seems to take center stage.  But Montblanc has really set the bar high on this one.  Thanks for the excellent report. 

respo

even in the "entry" level series.

I personally think the Star 4810 chronograph is a very attractive watch.  I wish they would have left out the useless little seconds display but I know for some people a seconds hand, no matter how small, is important.

The Star Nicolas Rieussic monopusher open date is now high on the next purchase list with that make over and the addition of a date function.

Last but not least I really admire what MB did with its acquisition of Minerva.  Without a doubt Minerva probably would have "gone down" again in this current fiscal crisis if MB didnot step in.  But I sincerely hope that they try to listen to the collecting community...probably the only group that understands the value of Minerva's research.  I don't know what size those prototype movements are but build the case around the movement and keep it within reason.  Even for the majority of die hard collectors who appreciate Minerva the entry price is a bit steep at the current levels.  I would not be surprised if they only smiled from afar.

Thanks Anthony

Good work Montblac...seriously the brand has done much in only two years time, I'm amazed.

Mike

The recent products from the three Montblanc watch divisions are beginning to convince me that they are a serious watchmaker for all price points and eventually become the top earner for Richemont.

Carter

Until now, Cartier has been the top horse in the Richemont stable, sales driven by their soon-to-be-forgotten Must de Cartier lines and moving DOWN to mass market the various Pasha, Tank and Santos steel models with ETA movements. Of course, their CPCP range is still haut de gamme and the purchase of the Roger Dubuis factories (brand not man) ensure a Genevan location for the Geneva Seal. 

Cartier is a bit of a mystery; without a PuristS forum, we can only speculate what they are really thinking. The SIHH 2009 offerings hint at a wind of change for their style.........

Montblanc

Montblanc is a bit luckier as they came from nowhere and moved UP the totem pole from outsourced movements to home-made Rieussec and Villeret ranges. To the public, they look like they are growing up, both in size and quality to attain legitimacy as watchmakers rather than just purveyors of accessories to match their writing implements. We've had a recent spate of Montblanc PuristS' discussions and were frankly surprised at their commitment to continue covering the full spectrum of price points.

Eventually, this financial recession will be over and the companies that have continued to hold or even grab more of the attention share of watch fans will come out stronger .

They can do this by improving both the products and communication.

Regards,

MTF