Montblanc

I was fortunate enough to be invited for this event. As Gordon (GLau) and our moderator Mike had already covered many of the products (and food/sweets!) they saw in this event (in Singapore and New York respectively), I will focus on a particular product innovation I am most impressed with. I am equally fascinated by the 90th anniversary Meisterstuck fountain pens in rose gold trims (and I just bought one!) but... let's focus on watches first

The watch that fascinated me a lot this year is the new TimeWalker Extreme Chronograph DLC. There have been some reviews on this watch before recently so I won't repeat the same here. Overall, I find this watch extremely handsome with the Black 4 DLC coating, which makes it the blackest watch I have ever seen and in a very seductive and mysterious black tone. I love the looks just with the Black 4 DLC coating, not to mention I love black dial chronos. The extreme durability the DLC coating gives plus the reasonable price of this timepiece makes it very appealing to me (even though it is a tad too big for my small wrist although most wrists will be ok with it).

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However, what drew me most to this watch is the leather strap. The strap's inlay is made of black "Vulcarbone" cautchouc, giving the wristband extreme strength and flexibility. To me, what is amazing is the innovative process which textures the leather and also impregnates (not merely coating it) it with the specially treated rubber, hence conjoining the two materials and increasing the strap's structural strength (vs a normal leather strap or one merely coated superficially with rubber). This innovation results in an "extreme" and high-performance material that makes the strap resistant to water, scratches and even fire! (Note: information here derived from Montblanc website and press releases).

To me, this is very impressive and shows that Montblanc has truly married modern materials science with traditional leather arts. Such a strap is very befitting on a watch called the TimeWalker Extreme Chronograph DLC and complements the Black 4 DLC very well in making a watch that is truly robust against the elements and rough wear.

What also interested me alot during this event is to see that this leather technology is also used on some new leather products from Montblanc  - a new Extreme leather product line. There were wallets and bags and some other leather accessories made from this Extreme leather. There was even a piece of this Extreme leather and the Montblanc Boutique Ops Manager of Singapore, Yasmin, challenged me to try to burn it with a lighter! I was fearful of fire and declined but all the Montblanc staff there were very confident of doing this test!

Anyway, some pics to share on the very impressive TimeWalker Extreme Chronograph DLC as well as the Extreme leather goods. Once my Montblanc leather wallet wears out (2+ years and still looking good so I may have to wait awhile!), I will get one of these new Extreme leather wallets.

As I have mentioned, my personal favorite (of a good size of 39mm that is my sweet size) is the new Meisterstuck Heritage perpetual calendar. Seeing it again is so tempting! 

I also like the Meisterstuck 90th anniversary fountain pens and got one for my birthday recently. As a side note: I wanted their famed 18k nib and unfortunately got the wrong 146 LeGrand model with the 14k nib. Montblanc Singapore very kindly allowed me to exchange it with the 149 (the broader size version) 90th anniversary fountain pen, with the 18k nib, with a top up of the difference in price of course, as the 149 is more expensive than the 146 model. Fortunately the 146 I purchased is still in the box, un-inked and with all packaging intact. Kudos to Montblanc for such excellent customer service and flexibility. I am now a happy man with the 149 90th anniversary Meisterstuck pen (I have inked it and used it today!) - just waiting for the Meisterstuck Heritage Perpetual Calendar to arrive inn the stores to go along with this pen - now... steel or rose gold to go along with my new pen?!

Enjoy the pics!

cheers

robin

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