Montblanc desperately tries to hit Apple Watch on ‘longevity’ angle

11 years ago

“By the end of the decade, smartwatches from Apple Inc. and others might elicit guffaws rather than envy. At least that’s the view of Montblanc’s Alexander Schmiedt,” Corinne Gretler reports for Bloomberg.

“The speed at which gadgets evolve poses a design challenge to the four-century-old Swiss watchmaking industry, Schmiedt, Montblanc’s managing director for watches, said in an interview. High-end wristwatches are made to last, while electronic devices become disposable within years, as seen in the demise of the 1980s calculator watch,” Gretler reports. “‘Our products should have very long life cycles,’ Schmiedt said at Montblanc’s watch factory, housed in an Art Nouveau villa in the rural Swiss town of Le Locle. ‘In modern technologies the life cycle is exactly the opposite. It may be the hottest thing today, and in one year it’s already outdated, and in two years you’re made fun of for still using it.'”

MacDailyNews Take: If this is all they’ve got, they’re dead already. Of course the life cycle is short. We want constant improvements, not decades of stagnation. These mechanical watchmakers are sitting ducks. It’s tragic or comical, depending whether you or yours work for traditional watchmakers or not.

“Montblanc, owned by South African billionaire Johann Rupert’s Richemont, has created a luxury item with high-tech appeal by putting the electronics in the watchband rather than the timepiece. Montblanc’s $390 ‘e-Strap’ goes on sale next month and accompanies its TimeWalker watches, which cost $3,700 to $5,800. Richemont will probably only embed technology in watchbands, Rupert said on a conference call about full-year earnings announced Friday,” Gretler reports. “Rupert owns almost every product Apple Inc. has made and was the first agent selling Apple devices in South Africa decades ago, he said. ‘I love Apple, but just when I’ve gone and set everything up for an iPhone 5, the iPhone 6 is coming out and the cords change,” he said. ‘That is not to say the Apple Watch is not a great product. I predict it will do very well, but I don’t think that customers are going to be ecstatic to throw away watches in one to two years when the technology is obsolete.'”

MacDailyNews Take: Ahh, there’s really nothing quite like a South African billionaire complaining that he has to replace a $19 cord.

(Not to mention that iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 both use Lightning connectors, so… You lie.)

A word of advice for Montblanc: Focus on pens.

Gretler reports, “Schmiedt has said he hopes the Apple Watch will succeed because it boosts consumer interest in timepieces.”

MacDailyNews Take: Yes, in Apple Watches. Once you use one, you’ll never want to take it off. Watch and see.

As we wrote back in April:
Here’s what makers of Swiss or any other watches should do: Push the idea of wearing of two watches, one on each wrist or two on one wrist, into vogue. Because once people start using Apple Watch, they aren’t going to want to leave it at home. Ever. They won’t want to go to dinner parties without their Apple Watch. And that’s bad, bad news for watchmakers not named Apple.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: “By the end of the decade, smartwatches from Apple Inc. and others…”

Now, who would these “others” be? Those who, as with the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, steal Apple’s patented IP and infringe upon Apple’s trade dress with impunity, of course.