THE RE-MAKING OF MONTBLANC – Our guess at new CEO Jerome Lambert’s To-Do List

Felix Scholz

Jerome-Lambert-Montblanc — CEO of Montblanc, Jerome Lambert, ready to rewrite Montblanc’s place in the watch world

Last year the watch industry raised its collective eyebrow when once-was-wunderkind CEO Jerome Lambert moved from Jaeger-LeCoultre to Richemont stablemate Montblanc. Montblanc is a brand with their own long backstory – but they’re relatively new to the watch game. So, in an act of daring corporate espionage, the (fictitious) Time+Tide ninja team has infiltrated Lambert’s new office, and lifted his to-do list for the re-making of Montblanc*. To provide cover for our ninjas we recently we sat down with Julien Renard, President of Montblanc in the Asia Pacific, and heard all about the latest watches of Montblanc – we’ll bring you that story shortly. But first, our guess at what might be the first five action items on the man of action’s to-do list…

montblanc_moleskine — This is absolutely, positively NOT Jerome Lambert’s diary. (Image from genius.is.patience)

TO-DO #1: Release classically styled Perpetual Calendar at crazy price. DONE!

Montblanc_Meisterstuck_Heritage_Perpetual_Calendar — Montblanc’s awesome perpetual calendar in sensuous red gold.

Proving that Lambert really is a horological man of action he’s already ticked this item off his list. Releasing one of the most talked about watches at SIHH 2014 – the Montblanc Meisterstück Heritage Perpetual Calendar. This very classically styled perpetual calendar (that means it shows, time, day, date, month, phase of the moon AND leap year indicator) is the sort of clean and classic style you associate with Montblanc – and it’s priced light years below ANY other annual calendar starting at $15,300AUD. The perfect rabbit to pull out of the hat in your first year.

TO-DO #2. Pinch Hugh Jackman as an ambassador. DONE!

Montblanc-Hugh-Jackman-Jerome-Lambert — “Hey! Your watch is the same as mine.”

Wolverine knows what time it is. Montblanc time.

TO-DO #3. Carefully balance Montblanc’s fine lifestyle range with desire to make even more awesome watches.

Montblanc_Meisterstuck_90Years_Collection_149 — Yes Mr Lambert, these things are *kinda* important to Montblanc.

Lambert’s real challenge will be to keep Montblanc the all-singing, all-dancing luxury lifestyle brand that it’s become, with pens, leather goods, jewellery AND timepieces. As much as he might want it to be, it can’t all be about the watches. But having said that Richemont clearly want Lambert to work his horological magic at Montblanc, so we can expect an elevation of the Montblanc timepiece collection.

TO-DO #4. Play to our strengths.

Montblanc_TimeWalker_Extreme — Don’t worry, classics like the Timewalker will definitely stay in the Montblanc lineup.

Montblanc is a luxury brand with huge recognition, and a rich tradition. Lambert isn’t going to mess with this, rather he’s going to work with it. To date, Montblanc timepieces have been dominated by the mainstay Timewalker collection. This won’t change. And Montblanc’s timepieces are mostly on the more accessible end of the luxury spectrum. We might see some high end novelties to raise their watchmaking credibility, but Lambert won’t ignore the brand’s bread and butter.

TO-DO #5. Step it up at SIHH 2015

Montblanc-sihh — What next for Montblanc at SIHH?

Sadly the Time+Tide ninjas were interrupted before they could find out the exact details of next years Montblanc collection, but we’re fairly comfortable we’ll see more competitively priced, classically styled watches with a ‘casual dress’ feel.

Computer-ninja — This is what Time+Tide ninjas *could* look like. If they existed. Which they don’t.

*Please note, Time+Tide’s ninja team is fictitious, much like TMNTs, or ‘drop bears’ (a feared Aussie predator)