On Weds this week, Montblanc Singapore kindly invited me to attend a cosy small group cocktail event to launch the new global Montblanc marketing campaign, "I Tell Stories" starring Hugh Jackman.
This campaign is tied to the 90th anniversary of the Meisterstuck fountain pen as well as the launch of several products to celebrate this milestone for Montblanc. Other than the special 90th anniversary fountain pen in red gold trims and a special "90th" engraving on the solid red gold nib (only produced for 2014), the other significant product launch of course, is the new Meisterstuck Heritage watch collection, a collection I like and which continues to grow on me.
I brought along a fellow Purist and watch collector as my guest (who poisoned me along with Vlad on JLC) so I thought of "returning the favor" with some Montblanc venom too. Guess who is this special guest that night...
Ok I side tracked....
As we entered the boutique, the whole boutique seemed transformed into a very special theme... I felt we entered into a studio set in Hollywood!
The servers were dressed as various Hollywood characters from movies such as Pocahontas, the Great Gatsby, etc. Music played
that night was also from famous movie soundtracks. I wanted to take some photos of the handsome and beautiful servers to share here (their costumes were awesome!) but very soon got distracted by the watches.... especially the Meisterstuck Heritage collection. Which ties in nicely with our program as we feature the Montblanc Meisterstuck Heritage series this month.
Once again I tried on the Meisterstuck Heritage moonphase and Perpetual Calendar watches in both steel and rose gold, as well as the limited edition (LE 90) Pulsograph.
The perpetual calendar continues to grow on me. It's hard to decide which I prefer between the steel and rose gold version. The steel is extremely good value and I would love to have such a good value QP. The contrast of the rose gold hands and indices brings some warmth to the steel case (a point my fellow moderator Fx first made and I agree with him). I slightly prefer the rose gold version - probably because i prefer a single tone rose gold color and also the price multiplier to the steel version is only 1.7x the price - great value for the rose gold version I feel. But the steel version is more suitable for daily wear I feel without fear of scratches. My fellow moderator Oliver will have a more detailed post on this watch soon
I also spent some time with the Meisterstuck Heritage moonphase in the boutique. The dial is indeed more balanced that the perpetual calendar. I spent a bit more time enjoying the steel version this time, especially with the new Montblanc bracelet. Very comfortable to wear and nicely designed bracelet links with a full polish (of course the bracelet will be a scratch magnet). The moonphase in steel is fantastic value and priced very attractively! It looks great on a black strap too.
Next I took one more look at the Meisterstuck Heritage Pulsograph. The Minerva made Montblanc Villeret calibre 13.21 is of course a favorite of mine for high end chronographs. It is much easier to capture its beautiful finishing on photos without the hunter case back found on some of the Montblanc Villeret watches. I would have preferred the size to be 39mm instead of 41mm for this Pulsograph as it is a tad big for my small wrist. Similar to the other Meisterstuck Heritage watches, the bombe dial has a beautiful sunburst effect and the attention to details on the applied indices and dauphine hands are something I appreciate a lot. Compared to its more exclusive Montblanc Villeret cousins, the Meisterstuck Heritage Pulsograph has a much more competitive price, more accessible for those who want a Montblanc Villeret Minerva chronograph movement.
Following Mike's very well written post on the case construction of the Meisterstuck Heritage watches, here are further wrist shots to showcase the case profile. The mix of polished and matt finishing is very nice indeed. Not an ultra thin case but I like it as it is not too thick, has good wrist presence and feels right with enough heft.
We were also invited to watch 2 videos on the new "I Tell Stories" global campaign starring Hugh Jackman. It is nice to see the Meisterstuck Heritage watch heavily featured on the video, along with the fountain pen. I usually am not a fan of marketing campaign videos but I actually like these 2 videos I watched! Maybe because I am a fan of Hugh Jackman. I respect the hard work he put in to get to where he is today and he is still a humble man despite his achievements. I will share the 2 videos in a separate post on this thread.
Here is a pic of me trying to look like him in a similar blue shirt. Montblanc set up a section of the boutique to resemble the studio of the opening scene on the video.
Finally some pics of the food and drinks we had
Very interesting presentations of popcorn (as if we are watching a movie), gin tonic in syringes and even soup in a test tube (tasted very good!!).
Special thanks to Montblanc Singapore for the invite, and for your great company that night! My guest and I had a great time discussing watches with you.
Btw, guess who is the guest and fellow Purist??
Enjoy!
Cheers
Robin