The question has always been uppermost on the minds of those contemplating buying a watch from Montblanc: for a company that started out making fancy fountain pens, diamond jewellery and leather goods, what makes it think it can suddenly turn around and make watches to compete with other luxury watch houses that can claim somebody's father, grandfather and great-grandfather as part of a long line of artisanal watchmakers?

The first thing that Lutz Bethge, CEO of Montblanc, points to is the company's own 100-year history in pen-making, and how its reputation for craftsmanship made it relatively easy to make the foray into timepieces.

"Our customers have a lot of trust in our brand and that's how it started," says Mr Bethge in an interview in Montblanc's Hamburg headquarters recently. "We have a huge customer franchise - people who have been following the company for over 100 years because their parents or grandparents have always been using Montblanc writing instruments. We have a strong reputation for quality, sustainable value and a timeless elegance that can be passed on to the next generation.

"It's the trust that we generated in our core customer group that helped us. Usually it is very difficult when you come from another discipline - of course it was not always easy - but we have a number of customers prepared to say that if Montblanc does watches they will be serious watches and of good quality because that is what they stand for."

The challenge, then, "was how to acquire expert know-how as fast as possible," adds Mr Bethge. And with its emphasis on craftsmanship, Montblanc wanted to make its own watches, which is how it ended up with two watch factories in Switzerland - La Locle and Villeret, just outside Geneva. La Locle is where the brand's mainstream lines are created, while Villeret is a smaller, compact outfit devoted to its highly complicated watches as well as an artisanal atelier that does only bespoke timepieces.

Villeret is also the result of Montblanc's acquisition of watch brand Minerva in 2007, with the task of developing new watchmaking techniques without losing sight of historical principles as well.

"When we started making watches, we knew people would say, oh it's nice but we want more than just beautiful watches, we want excellence. That's why we created our own movements like the Rieussec movement with two rotating discs - which is a very different way of making a chronograph. Even though it's only been a few years in the market it's an iconic watch that people associate immediately with Montblanc."

The watch was so named in tribute to Nicolas Rieussec, a watchmaker who invented the chronograph movement in 1821. In January this year, Montblanc launched its Nicolas Rieussec anniversary edition watch to mark the 190th anniversary of the chronograph's invention.

Such are the kinds of timepieces that come out of Villeret, a workshop that "is 150 years old where 50 people make a few hundred watches a year", says Mr Bethge. "This is where we make our new movements and limited editions like the Grand Tourbillon Heures Mysterieuses, costing 195,000 euros (S$342,000). It's a huge piece and you can see the hands but you don't know how (hence the name 'Mysterious Hours') - it's one of the most important complications in the high-end watch industry, and it's with this kind of products that we are able to capture the attention of the watch connoisseur."

He adds that at watch fairs, when he is invariably asked the question of how Montblanc can compete with brands that have 100 to 150 years of history, he tells them, "come back in 100 years".

He quickly stresses: "I'm not trying to be arrogant. It's just my way of telling them that when we start something, we are in it for the long term. We want to be a part of it, we want to be the specialists. And I think the customer has started to realise that it is true. And even the watch journalists especially, they have been saying, 'it's amazing what you've been doing'."



Montblanc Timewalker Twinfly

It's a confidence that bodes well for Montblanc as it stakes out a place for itself in the annals of watchmaking history. In fact, it's even created an exhibition to chronicle its evolution from pen craftsmanship into watchmaking with an upcoming event, "Writing Time", at its Singapore flagship boutique in Mandarin Gallery.

In partnership with watch museum Musée International d'Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, watch enthusiasts will get to goggle at the way the chronograph has evolved over the past 200 years. Over 30 historic chronographs will go on display to illustrate the many chronograph innovations and their uses over the years.

As for the man who invented it all - Nicolas Rieussec - the exhibition's highlight will be the 190th anniversary timepiece created in his honour.