(On January 17, Montblanc hosted a cocktail party at its boutique in the Paragon Shopping Centre here in Singapore to showcase its new haute horlogerie Collection Villeret 1858.)
The Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 is made by what was once the Minerva company. Although the Montblanc brand shares the same name and factory as the firm that once made the $1500 Pythagore wristwatch - an internet favourite with a movement designed according to the principles of the Golden Mean - the Montblanc Minerva watches so different they could well be a whole different brand. (Click here to see a review of the Frey-era Minerva Pythagore wristwatch by ei8htohms)
Minerva's transformation began when the Frey family sold Minerva to Emilio Gnutti, an Italian businessman with a chequered past who was once on the Forbes Rich List. Mr Gnutti proceeded to move Minerva upmarket by leaps and bounds, pushing up its quality as well as its price. Recruited for that effort was Demetrio Cabiddu, a master watchmaker formerly of Gerald Genta who was involved in the creation of the automatic Grande Sonnerie with Westminster chime in the early nineties.
Early last year, Mr Gnutti sold Minerva to Montblanc and presto, Montblanc, formerly an established pen maker is now an established watchmaker also. This is not the first time Montblanc is buying expertise and production; some years back the company bought Seeger, maker of beautiful lambskin leather goods - “Cashmere in Leather” as it advertised itself - and devoted Seeger to producing Montblanc leather goods.
Often enough the story ends here; big brand eats small brand and small brand becomes soulless commercial subsidiary, but fortunately there is more to tell. An extraordinary degree of effort has been invested in the Collection Villeret 1858. The Villeret factory even makes Breguet overcoils in-house; movements are now fitted with overcoils from existing stocks but by next year all hairsprings will be made by hand in-house. And it is worth noting that the hairsprings are enormous - the balance wheel in the large chronograph is a whopping 14.5mm wide!
Most striking about the collection is the excellent level of finish. The movements are very elaborate and finely done, including a black-polished column wheel and sharp, bevelled corners on bridges and levers. Montblanc has also achieved a good tactile feel for the chronograph, the pusher action (all of the chronographs are monopusher) is reminiscent of a fine vintage column wheel chronograph.
That being said, there were some elements that could be improved, notably the polishing on the barrel which could be better defined. Another comment made was that the anglage was not “deep” enough, in other words the bevelled edge was not wide enough, although I personally thought the anglage was well done. Nonetheless the overall result is impressive and deeply attractive.
I applaud Montblanc for its efforts in creating a haute horlogerie range; the brand recognition of Montblanc is so strong - Montblanc is easily one of the largest luxury brands in the world and also the second-largest Richemont brand after Cartier - it could have easily created a watch of lesser quality and still sell lots of them. I am impressed by what Montblanc is doing and I am eager to see what they have in store for the future.
- SJX