Montblanc

Unique Montblanc Villeret Vintage Chronographe Purists Edition Watch

Another special watch that the watch collector forum ThePuristS.com is offering for sale in honor of their 10th anniversary is this limited edition Montblanc Villeret 1858 Vintage Chronographe PuristS 10th Edition watch - the "P10." The site members are all frequent buyers of high-end watches, and to say thanks, a number of prestigious brands have offered special models to be sold exclusively through the site for the ongoing year-long celebration.

What makes this Montblanc Villeret watch special is the "P10" label at 10 o'clock on the dial, as well as special commemorative engravings on the caseback of the watch. Montblanc and ThePuristS will have 10 of these watches available. The cases are 43.5mm wide in 18k white gold while the dials are pristine white enamel with extremely crisp text. The movement is the Montblanc Minerva 16.29 and is easily the highlight of the watch. It is extremely beautiful in its finishing and design, and is viewable through the sapphire caseback window. To match the blued steel hands on the dial Montblanc chose a blue toned alligator strap to go with the watch. Price for the limited edition Montblanc Villeret Vintage Chronograph Purists Edition watch will be 41,000 euros - and available to PuristS members only. If you want one you can contact purists10th @ puristspro.com.

Ariel Adams publishes the wrist watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: anniversary, chronograph, minerva, montblanc, p10, purists, villeret, vintage, watch

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Horological TimeWriter Table Clock

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

During 2011's SIHH event, Montblanc has a few "stars" of the show, but one of them was certainly this limited edition table clock made in cooperation with German clock maker Erwin Sattler. The clock is officially called the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Horological TimeWriter Table Clock. It combines a few important things for the brand, and will be made as a limited edition set of just 19 pieces.

The clock starts with.... the clock. It is made in cooperation of Munich based Erwin Sattler. The clock replicates the look of the now famous Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph watch collection. The dial combines the time, a chronograph, and two power reserve indicators. The clock is sort of like two clocks in one mechanically speaking. Both set of parts are in the same unit. As such, the table clock has two balance springs, two timing mechanisms, and two barrels to hold power. Why two? One is for telling the time, while the other is for the chronograph mechanism. The Horological TimeWriter has a 15 day power reserve and must be wound via the back of the clock.

Gallery: MB Horological TimeWriter table clock

Tags: clock, horological timewriter, montblanc, nicolas rieussec, table

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Montblanc Star Worldtime Automatic Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Montblanc Star Worldtime Automatic Watch

The Montblanc Star watch collection gets a world time GMT watch for 2011 called the Star Worldtime Automatic. Using a 42mm wide steel Star style case, the timepiece has a new exclusive movement inside being the Montblanc calibre MB 4810/405 automatic. It is likely a base Swiss movement that has been modified a bit for Montblanc. It does have some interesting features above and beyond your standard GMT watch. For one thing, setting the second time zone does not stop the movement - this prevents timing loss when making adjustments. There is also a ring around the bezel with various city names. That inner bezel spins (also controlled via the crown), while allows you to determine what time it is in any city based upon setting it to the city you are currently in.

Montblanc opted for a smaller GMT hand so not to interfere as much with reading the time. In sporty fashion, it is dark on one side, and light on the other as a relative day/night indicator. In typical fashion the GMT hand is red, while the dial itself is silver tone and black. The face of the watch has a nice textured surface, and emphasizes the DNA of the star collection. Attached to the piece is a black alligator strap. Montblanc has other traveler's watches, including the easy to use GMT function on their Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Automatic watches. Not to mention a host of other GMT pieces. This Star Worldtime GMT adds a little bit to the collection, but is not overly original to the larger Montblanc collection. It will however provide an additional flavor for enthusiasts to choose from.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2011, gmt, montblanc, star, watch, worldtime

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Anniversary Edition Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Anniversary Edition Watch

This is probably my most favorite interpretation of the dial on Montblanc's impressive Nicolas Rieussec timepieces. For 2011 Montblanc will release a few versions of this Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph Anniversary Edition watch. The dial has numerous subtle changes to it, and the result is something beautifully refined and extremely high-class in appearance. The dial itself is guilloche machine engraved. The case is about 43mm wide and available in either 18k rose gold, white gold, or platinum (the platinum version has an 18k white gold crown).

Inside the watch Montblanc uses their MB R110 manually wound movement. This is sort of skeletonized version of the R100. It has the time, a date disc, and a 60 minute monopusher chronograph that has a column wheel and vertical clutch. It also has a power reserve of 72 hours. The chronograph discs appear wonderfully simple and straight forward, with the skeletonization located between them - revealing parts of the movement workings. Montblanc redid the time dial to enhance legibility. This process sort of inset the date, making it a disc rather than a hand. A small arrow under the "Anniversary Edition" label indicates the precise date. The original model suffered from a bit of a legibility issue in this area - but this design offers a distinct improvement. The dial still features blued steel hands, and exposed palette synthetic sapphires to add color to the look.

The rose gold version will be available as a set of 190 pieces, 90 pieces in white gold, and the platinum model will have only 20 pieces available. Montblanc really ups the value of the entire Nicolas Rieussec range by having this beautiful version available in the collection Expect prices in the $30,000 - $40,000 range for the gold models, over $50,000 for the platinum model. The only thing I don't get yet is what Anniversary this watch is meant to celebrate.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com

Tags: anniversary, montblanc, nicolas rieussec, watch

Montblanc Timewalker TwinFly Chronograph Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Montblanc Timewalker TwinFly Chronograph Watch

For 2011 Montblanc will be releasing a few new Timewalker timepieces I imagine, and one of them will be this new Timewalker TwinFly Chronograph. Details at this point are scant, but the watch does retain the 43mm wide dimensions of the rest of the Timewalker Chronograph line. Keeping up their sporty image, the TwinFly is done in DLC black coated steel, and has a new type of dial for the brand that is richly textured. This piece actually reminds me of watches from Linde Werdelin.

The dial, while it has a lot going on, is designed in a nicely balanced manner and does not inhibit reading of the time. The date is covertly set into the left side of the dial, while the chronograph is laid out in a unique fashion thanks to the Montblanc caliber MB LL 100 automatic chronograph movement with 3 days of power reserve. The dial has a centrally mounted chronograph hand - which is uncommon for chronographs. I haven't seen something like this in a mechanical movement since the Lemania 5100. The upper register is for the chrono hours, and the lower subdial is for the time's seconds hand. An interesting any symmetrical layout for this very sporty Timewalker watch. Further, the chronograph is a flyback chronograph that means the seconds hand will start again without having to stop and reset the chronograph. Price is 8,950 euros - and it will be available later this year.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: montblanc, timewalker, twinfly, watch

Adrian Brody & Gerard Butler Wearing Montblanc Watches

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Celebrity Shopping

Good friends eat same food, wear same watch brand? Clearly not a marketing set up shot, this photograph has actors Adrian Brody and Gerard Butler each eating McDonald's burgers, sitting court-side at a Lakers' game, and both wearing Montblanc timepieces. What else do they have in common?

Brody is seen with a Montblanc Star Sport watch in steel. The classic sport themed watch comes in a few dial colors, has a Swiss ETA Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph movement, and is about 42mm wide - retails for $3,735. Butler is wearing a Montblanc Timewalker Dual Carbon Chronograph which is part of the brands well-known TImewalker collection of watches. This one has a two coatings of DLC (diamond like carbon) for hardness and the block color and is matched with gold accents. It is 43mm wide on a leather strap and also has as Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph movement. Price for it is about $6,480.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: adrian brody, gerard butler, montblanc, timewalker, watch, watchspotting

Birth Of A Montblanc: Making The World's Finest Pen & Why You Should Write With One

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

Visiting Montblanc's headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, I experienced how the world's finest pen is brought to life, and learned a little something about culture. Let me make you an instant expert on fine writing instruments.

I never thought much about fine writing instruments. The life I tend to live is practical and versatile. Much like my fellow Americans I shed tradition for convenience and economy. The practice of writing words has been done with half dollar ballpoint pens and pencils purchased from a drugstore. My finest "writing instruments" were dutifully sourced from hotels and other easy giveaways. Perhaps this is why I tend to prefer the keyboard. A bit of that changed when I discovered that for just a bit more (and at the right store), I could get pens made in Japan that worked better. With them I wrote more, and seemed to enjoy drawing and taking notes in a new way. Good tools are always appreciated and help you be more productive, but are writing instruments are more than just that?

Is writing like language? Does the process we use to write change what we say and the culture around us? Some academics posit that "language is culture." Then, by that accord is the way we write language a function of that culture? People worry heavily that the popularity of instant messaging via computers and text messaging via phones leads to a distinct degradation in our writing and language. It is hard to argue with this if you have any experience with these communication mediums. So what about the opposite? If casual ways of writing harm formality, do more formal ways of writing increase one's level of sophistication, even temporarily?

Gallery: Montblanc Pen Manufacture images

Tags: factory, hamburg, how made, manufacture, montblanc, pen, pens, writing instrument

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Montblanc Now Offering Bespoke Pen Making Service

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments, Luxury Shopping

A new service by traditional fine pen (among other goods) maker Montblanc will offer customers the experience and opportunity to order custom made pens suited to their particular writing style. Montblanc has always offered a number of pen nib sizes depending on a writer's preferences, but the new service will include a unique personalized writing evaluation to designed to identify how someone writes, what the best type of pen size is for them. It also involves the creation of a one-of-a-kind fountain pen nib made for you at the Montblanc pen manufacture in Hamburg, Germany.

I had the opportunity to experience the writing "exam" myself first-hand. The process is simple and informative. Montblanc sits you in front of a computer with a large digital writing tablet. You are given special paper sheets that are placed over the tablet and asked to write preselected text as you normally would. Your writing is digitized via software on the computer in real time, which tracks variables such as how hard you write, the angles you make with the pen, and when you lift a pen off the paper when writing. It is quite interesting to see an analysis of your own writing – the test feels a lot like a vision exam.

The computer makes a recommendation as to what type of Montblanc fountain pen nib is best suited for your penmanship style. A fountain pen nib is the tip of the pen that actually does the writing. At one time these tips were part of specially cut feathers, but have since been made out of metal. Montblanc is known for making the highest quality, most effective pen nibs around (and they look quite nice as well). Montblanc pen nibs are constructed from solid gold, with the ends of the tips being made from a complex metal alloy (that is actually more expensive than gold). This alloy is used because gold is a relatively soft metal, and Montblanc designs their pens to last decades, even with constant use.

Tags: bespoke, custom, instrument, montblanc, pens, writing

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Montblanc iPhone Case

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

Need to add some Euro luxury style to your iPhone? Well then the value proposition of this Montblanc Meisterstuck iPhone case should make total sense. Your iPhone will be able to easily slip in and out of this very straight forward design. The high-quality black leather molded case comes complete with Montblanc star logo letting onlookers know you shun silicon skin style cases. Given that you need to take your phone in and out of these cases to do anything with them - cases like this make more sense from a style rather than utility standpoint, but people still buy them, and having "Montblanc" anything is usually pretty satisfying. Not sure on price yet, but these should be available about now in Montblanc boutiques.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com

Tags: case, iphone, iphone case, iphone cases, meisterstuck, Montblanc

Montblanc's Queen Elizabeth I Fountain Pens

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

Montblanc's newest Patron of Art Edition celebrates the legendary Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I built up 16th century England into a world power and her legacy is celebrated with two fountain pens the "Limited Edition Patron of Art Elizabeth I" is limited to 4810 fountain pens and a finer edition is limited to 888 writing instruments.

Both pens are covered in lacquer modeled on the monarch's royal garments. The Tudor rose and the cross of the British Crown are also featured on the cap and the clip is topped with a synthetic green garnet cabochon. The words "Video et taceo" (I see and say nothing--one of Elizabeth's mottoes) are engraved on the cap ring.

The 4810 fountain pens have a body and cap of black precious resin with gold-plated inlay. The Elizabeth I Limited Edition 888 is a 750 solid gold fountain pen with a red lacquered barrel and cap. The 18K gold nib features a bejeweled gold crown in which Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1559.

Tags: fountain, montblanc, Queen Elizabeth I, writing instrument, writing instruments

Montblanc's Personal Code Ink Prevents Fraud

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

Montblanc has long been an icon of luxury in the writing world and that tradition continues as they plan to release a new kind of cutting edge ink. Personal Code Ink contains a special botanical ingredient that gives it a unique DNA code of sorts that can be identified and linked to its specific owner. Each ink is unique and impossible to duplicate, being heralded as unique as a fingerprint and inspiring the slogan "Only one person will own this ink -- you." Each Personal Code Ink set comes in a wooden box finished with black lacquer and includes a felt-tipped Meisterstück Signature Pen, a rollerball Meisterstück Solitaire Barley, and ten ink cartridge refills for months and years of forgery-safe writing.

In the event of signature or other handwriting dispute Montblanc with use forensics to authenticate whether Personal Code Ink was used and if so by whom. Look for Personal Code Ink in Montblanc boutiques worldwide starting May 2010.

Source

Tags: custom ink, ink, montblanc, pens, personal ink, signature, writing

The Montblanc Sale of the Century at Bonhams & Butterfields

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments, Auctions

On Feb. 15 in Los Angeles Bonhams & Butterfields will present an auction exclusively dedicated to writing instruments from Montblanc, makers of fine pens with the famed "snow cap" motif. The sale, timed to coincide with the annual Los Angeles International Pen Show, will contain more than 130 lots of exceptional models from several of the major Montblanc categories including rarely seen examples. Highlighting the auction is one of the most sought after Montblanc pens ever produced, the Magical Black Widow Skeleton limited edition fountain pen (above), estimated at $18,000 - $24,000. Encased by a web of white gold, the instrument features a filigree spider studded with black diamonds on the clip.

Also on offer are the Diego Rivera limited edition fountain pen, crafted from white gold with a partial black lacquer finish in Aztec design, a cap overlaid with a white gold windowpane with elaborate Mexican etchings and a black sapphire set in the clip, estimated at $12,000 - $18,000; the Thomas Jefferson fountain pen, decorated with solid gold rings, petrified wood inlays, and a clip bearing a mandarin garnet, engraved with a portrait of the former president and estimated at $21,000 - $24,000; and a diamond studded Greta Garbo model crafted from solid yellow gold with mother-of-pearl inlay, estimated at $14,000 - $16,000.

Tags: Bonhams Butterfields, BonhamsButterfields, Diego Rivera, DiegoRivera, fountain pen, FountainPen, Los Angeles, LosAngeles, Montblanc, pens, Thomas Jefferson, ThomasJefferson

Montblanc Collection Villeret Vintage 1858 Chronographe Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

This is a peek at one of the new Montblanc watches due for release in a couple of weeks in Geneva. For 2010 comes the Montblanc Collection Villeret Vintage 1858 Chronographe Watch. A distinct homage to retro chronograph watches that exhibited the characteristic spiral or "snail shell" tachymetre scale. This was often done to allow for a telemeter scale to be placed on the periphery of the ring - two measuring devices so vintage themselves that most people have no idea how to use them or what they are to be used for. But who cares, they look pretty cool.

Dials should be more than lovely to look at being in a high-quality enamel that typically makes the numerals and scales pop in a crisp and colorful manner. Montblanc of course added their characteristic font for the Arabic hour markers. The hands are in blued steel. Inside the watch is a retro Minerva caliber 16-29 manually would column wheel chronograph movement. Note that the 30 minute chronograph is a monopusher operated via a pusher in the crown. Montblanc owns Minerva. There are two versions of the limited edition of 116 pieces watch - both are in large for the style 43.5mm wide cases. Half of them in 18k red gold (with brown alligator straps) and the other half in 18k white gold (with black alligator straps).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site ablogtoread.com.

Tags: 1858, 2010, chrongraphe, chronograph, collection, limited edition, LimitedEdition, montblanc, sihh, villeret, vintage, watch

Montblanc Emblem Diamond Gold Rings

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

For the holiday season Montblanc presents a new jewelry item - these gold, diamond studded rings shaped like the Montblanc star emblem (you usually see it in white against black). The specific model is the Montblanc 4810 ring collection. The rings are quite clever and come in three thicknesses with varying amounts of diamonds. Materials include 18k white, yellow, or red gold - looking nice in each. Montblanc has been really trying to emphasis its jewelry and accessory collection over the last few years to bolster its already popular watch, and of course pen collections.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 4810, diamonds, emblem, gold, Montblanc, ring, star

Montblanc Star Pluie d'Etoiles Watch For The Ladies

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Asymmetric diamond layouts are in. Harry Winston showed us this here on the Talk To Me, Harry Winston Snowflake watch, and not Montblanc gives us a taste of what this design aesthetic can produce. coming in January, Montblanc will reveal the new Star Pluie d'Etoiles watch for women. I do quite like the look. The case and dial work together harmoniously, as the watch wouldn't be what it is without both.

The case is 36mm wide and in 18k white gold. The out bezel is lined with baguette cut diamonds, while the inner side of the bezel is done in what looks to be round cut diamonds. The diamonds are top Wesselton, and there are 298 of them on the watch. The dial itself is in black Tahitian mother-of-peal, with a nicely engraved Montblanc star "falling" with the diamonds. Movement is a Swiss ETA automatic, and you know it is a Montblanc by the logo on the side of the case, as well as the characteristic "12" in their standard font. It is all on an alligator strap. A nice wintry ladies' watch this season.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2010, diamonds, montblanc, SIHH, star pluie detoiles, StarPluieDetoiles, watch, watch of the day, WatchOfTheDay