TeutonicCarFan
5564
He seems to be going down the sports watch line
Which is popular, but not sure the MB collector is clamoring for. Oddly that line is called montblanc 1858 collection , of which 1858 was the founding of what became minerva. This is curious because minerva wasn't making sports watches! Even more odd is that collection villeret 1858 is the lineup where the fine haute horology pieces were titled, so why name the sports watch so closely. The collectors of these pieces may become annoyed or disheartened, and the people coming in for $ 2k sports watch don't usually know or care of this history (and if they do know of minerva and 1858 they know it doesn't pertain to sports watches so there is no benefit here).
In addition they had some overlap where their heritage lines looked the same as different minerva variants. All in all, a lot of added confusion and movement away from the high end pieces we all love. I'm no marketing person, but feel the brand confusion and lack of clear branding and brand association with the villeret workshops will hurt. I think 2 years ago everything was sold out quickly, with a softening watch market and collector seeking brands that emphasize excellence- there may be some trouble. Additionally montblanc seems to be a stepping stone for these directors to another place so they are focused on cheap ways to increase sales not connoisseur level brand integrity 🤷♂️
Big fan of the manual winds!
Big failure of Jerome to kill this model
He seems to be going down the sports watch line
good summary!
Indeed confusion
