Montblanc

jrwong23 (aka watchthebin)
[Purist]
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Thank you Dean!

I am especially touched with your kind words. We have been fellow VC collectors and I have utmost respect for your famed research into the history of brands and their watches/movements/famous collectors etc.

Your insightful posts on your visit to the Montblanc Villeret manufacture further inspired me on the Minerva calibres and was one of the factors that pushed me towards buying my Villeret watch and starting my love affair with MB watches. I have never been to the manufacture yet but thankfully learned alot about it from your posts

I would also like to thank Mike for helping answer some of the issues you raised. Hopefully, more Purists can also start new threads on MB watches, whether to share owners' experiences or even to share MB watches they saw at ADs or boutiques and want to ask the community for views. I recall you postes on the Nicolas Rieussec Rising Hours and hope you can post more about its wonderful innovations (right now everyone is focusing on the 2014 novelties but the Rising Hours is something even more unique in my view).

As for balancing the passion of a collector and the brands' interest, that has always been something I faced as a passionate collector (and I am sure many of us) even before I was appointed a Co-Mod. Most common examples are when brands want to increase their prices/production numbers or they push out products with design cues we collectors hope are not there - common ones being date windows or case sizes being too large or LE versions being too similar to non LE etc. The tensions often result from brands needing to take care of collector's needs as well as look into the desires of non collectors and the general watch buying community beyond the hardcores like us!

Interestingly over time, as our passion (and friendship/respect) with certain brands grow, the tensions get less too. Brands start to understand and hear us and we mutually also grow to understand their positions and support them if they have gained our trust and respect (and love!).

A personal experience I have recently can illustrate this (hopefully):
Dean, you might have noticed I wasn't too happy initially when I first read that the Minerva movements would be used in the Meisterstuck Heritage Pulsograph. As a passionate (and initially selfish) MB Villeret owner, I was fearful this would mean MB Villerets get less exclusive. As a passionate collector, I sought the advice of senior mods here and also wrote directly to MB to find out more. The senior Mods helped me reach out all the way to the top levels of Montblanc and Alexander from Montblanc also reached out to me to explain.

In the end, I was very satisfied with their answers (it took awhile and lots of debates between the brand and me) and my initial (negative) reactions turned to be even more positive than before. I realized Montblanc is very serious to share their passion for Fine watchmaking and why should I as a collector be so selfish (and protective) of the Villeret movements? Also I was assured and I noticed too that the Villerets would always be more limited (1, 8, 18 or max 58) whereas the Meisterstuck Heritage Pulsograph is LE to 90. Also the details are different. The Villerets have much finer details such as enamel dials, more finely made cases and an extremely thick sapphire glass etc. I was thus convinced and even applaud Montblanc for launching a new Meisterstuck Heritage line with a flagship housing my favorite calibre 13.21. I even feel proud of this now.

This easing of my intital tension as a collector was only possible because of detailed communications with the brands, facilitated by the senior Mods here and also with their objective encouragements as fellow collectors (Fx, Nico and Mike were the ones who helped me along). I was very impressed with how PuristSPro helped and guided me as a collector and hence when the executive team asked me if I could join them recently, I thought if I could help fellow collectors in their journey and also help them reach out to brands' senior executives when needed, why not? It's always great to help bridge different points of views amongst fellow collectors and also with the brands. That's what makes this community so special to me!

I believe Mike and Patrick along with many Mods here have strived to be objective, courteous and also acting with integrity when helping collectors along and bridging any gaps in viewpoints between collectors and brands, representing and faciliting both sides as objectively as possible. I hope to continue this spirit as I start my new role in PuristSPro and definitely hope to continue receiving your support on our Montblanc forum. If I could do these well, I believe this would make us all very successful in the Montblanc forum.

Cheers
Robin

This message has been edited by jrwong23 on 2014-03-09 20:38:53

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