Montblanc - Modern Vintage
WORLDTEMPUS - 9 January 2013
The snow-capped peaks of Mont Blanc tower high over Switzerland. Similarly, the white-starred nibs of this company tower over the writing instrument industry.
When Montblanc decides to enter another industry, this Richemont-owned brand does it right. In 1935, Montblanc began to branch out into leather goods and accessories to accompany its quality pens. To accomplish this authentically, Montblanc bought an established company. Then, in 1997, Montblanc branched out into watches by founding Montblanc Montre SA in Le Locle.
While Montblanc's beginnings in the watch world were cautious and relatively unremarkable, it did not take the company led by Norbert Platt and later Lutz Bethge very long to apply the same lust for quality to the timepieces as it did to writing instruments and leather goods. One way was to establish the Le Locle factory location. Housed in an attractive art deco villa built in 1906 - the same year Montblanc was founded in Hamburg - it is home to 130 technicians who design and assemble watches powered by ETA bases and some of the company's own movements since 2008. These include several used in the Rieussec and TimeWalker Twinfly models.
Villeret
The decided step that put Montblanc in the watch world's premier league, however, was the acquisition of Minerva in 2007. Minerva was founded in 1858 in the village of Villeret by Charles Ivan Robert, part of the Robert family, who had settled there from the Franche-Comte in the fourteenth century. Minerva was famous for its chronographs and the high quality of its movements, particularly since it was one of the few makers capable of creating its own balance springs. Today, the raw material of the balance spring wire is made by a supplier according to Minerva's original recipe. The drawing, stretching, shaping, coiling and all else is, however, done in-house by three technicians.
At the present time, round about 40 technicians make no more than 250 watches per year by hand in this factory, which may feel to the visitor like taking a step back in time upon entering. Nothing is off-the-rack, and each piece leaving this quirky edifice grounded in horological history is rooted in the art's grand past but influenced by modern technology.
This latter can be chalked up to the fact that what Montblanc now calls "Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie, Villeret" can well be viewed almost as an independent artisanal atelier, just supported by a large brand. The small factory is set up much like an independent's workshop and headed by careful master watchmaker Demetrio Cabbidu, who has worked here since 2001. Cabbidu oversees everything at Villeret, making sure each detail is just perfect. He even personally goes out into the forest to choose the right juniper wood pieces used to finish some components.
Villeret produces the masterful technical delicacies that Montblanc introduces, including the TimeWriter series, some of which are reminiscent of Harry Winston's Opus concept of working with independent watchmakers. Otherwise, Villeret works with four of Minerva's original calibers, two chronographs and two base calibers and continues to develop new specialties inspired by vintage shapes and dimensions.
"We make new innovations with a vintage spirit," says Cabbidu. "Innovation is very important."