Montblanc

Despite being released about six months ago, the stainless steel Rieussec Skeleton Date chronograph is still a rare beast.

There is one sitting on display at the MB boutique on Madison Ave but there is a bit of a wait time everywhere else.

 

Any PuristS play with this model recently?

Soren, how is your Montblanc holding up?

Cheers, Mike

to see if they have a Skeleton Day Date in stock.  I still haven't seen one in person since SIHH couple years ago.

Cheers,
Anthony

But surely by Q1 next year, all the ADs will have them. I actually ordered the non-skeleton version from the MB boutique, but on day of collection, there was a problem. I was setting the time, and when I realized that the rotor is not very free spinning, very jerky. I asked the salesperson the check, she said it's strange...she brought it back to a technician hidden in a side door, and I was told, that piece I wanted had a stuck rotor due to the glass case back being set too low!!! Anyway, there was no other pieces, other then a bracelet version, which I didn't like. Still don't have one till this day, perhaps next year.

The Madison boutique did not have a steel "open date" model available, but they did have a manual wind red gold version there! I should have taken a pic....

I have enuf budget fr a steel version only, so I will wait till it reaches the AD.

rotor either.

I didn't think anything of it because the rotor did move with arm swings and wound efficiently.

Sorry to hear about the wait.  You know what they say

Absence make the heart grow fonder !

 

Cheers, Mike

 

 

but, sorry, did not take any photos....

It is a very interesting model.....



Cheers

i am still happy about the one i bought a few months ago here in hamburg - i stille love to weare it - still a great feeling and an eye catcher ( at least for me ) - like to watch the old chrono mechanisme from riussec -

had a great evening with mr. GISBERT BRUNNER  in HH about chronometers and chronoSKOPES they became in ther end ( the to be precise)  - last week - so as u all know rieussec played the key role - by the way - does anybody know which of his chronometer modells was the fist one the mb is based on!?!?! we were not sure - since he designed 3. in the ned the 5170 was examined closely ---- no comments on that -

cheers

soeren

My Montblanc sales rep emailed me and told me that the Ala Moana (Honolulu) MB botique has a red gold in. I had been contacting him about a steel model. I'm looking forward to it to see the readability of the subdials.  From the pictures it looks a little unreadable, but maybe it is okay in person?

 

If I get in to see it, I'll post some pics (admittedly from an iphone).

Here are some wrist shots for your reference.  I think the skeletonization makes it a little more difficult to read compared to the solid rotating disks but it really depends on the lighting and your eyesight

 

Greetings from Maine,

Mike

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:

 

Congrats and thanks for sharing the pic, as they say wear it in good health!

Mahalo!

-MW

Looks like we're finally going to get a chance to see one here in the San Francisco Bay area. Just got off the phone with my favorite Montblanc boutique manager who tells me she's expecting one in the next day or so.

Please go ahead and email me if you'd like more details and i'll send you all the contact info. In the meantime i'll get some photos on the board as soon as the watch comes in with a full report.

Best Regards,

Julian.