Montblanc - Montblanc's 500 Hour Quality Certification Revisited

Montblanc's 500 Hour Quality Certification Revisited

Jul 01, 2014,18:31 PM

About 6 months ago, Montblanc announced that they were expanding the 500 hour Quality Certification process to ALL Rieussec chronographs.

Now, we are told that each example of the new Heritage Perpetual will also be subjected to this testing protocol and issued with the Quality certificate as well.

Here is an official explanation and description of the testing protocol from MB headquarters.

The movement ( MB 29.15 ) is a Sellita base with a Dubois Depraz module which has to pass this test...while fully encased.

So for those of us who may doubt the capabilities of a Sellita movement or the durability of a superimposed perpetual calendar module versus an integrated design, I think the 500 hour Quality Certification process should provide some reassurance.

Now this is what I consider a " Value added" benefit because the Heritage Perpetual is already a very decent proposition and to have it undergo this testing process really shows the effort MB is putting forth trying to shock and awe watch collectors and the established industry.

Perhaps not the prettiest movement to admire via the display back...but to reach that level of affordability I'm glad that MB sacrificed looks for performance.

Thoughts?

Best, Mike

This message has been edited by mkt33 on 2014-07-02 07:19:32

Comments: view entire thread

Did The Company Share Their Test Tolerances?

By: Tim_M : July 2nd, 2014-05:02

Hi, Did Montblanc mention their acceptable margins of performance for watches undergoing the test? Is it something like the ISO3159 or COSC guideline? Best, Tim

Yes they did !

By: mkt33 : July 2nd, 2014-05:46

80 hours – accuracy in all positions; -6.0 to +4.0 required (COSC standard). 336 hours – "Cyclotest" (14 continuous days); simulates real-life wear including wrist motions and laying overnight. For chronographs, two cycles are run; one with chrono running...

Rieussecs

By: gyang333 : July 2nd, 2014-07:24

Thanks for sharing Mike! When you said that Montblanc expanded the testing to all Rieussec models 6 months ago, which ones were they previously untesting? Were they only testing handwind models and not the automatics or something like that? THanks.

Previously the certification was an announced internal QA

By: mkt33 : July 2nd, 2014-09:56

process that only checked 2% of the Rieussecs which were selected randomly. Best, Mike

Ohhh

By: gyang333 : July 2nd, 2014-12:36

Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification :)

It's a form of assurance for me as a collector

By: jrwong23 (aka watchthebin) : July 2nd, 2014-19:25

that a manufacture is doing these comprehensive tests and issuing a certificate to confirm that. I appreciate JLC for the same. I initially thought Montblanc will only do these tests on their LeLocle manufactured movements (Timewalker Twinfly and Rieussec...