When I sit with friends from outside of the watch world, their first question tends to be 'is the watch industry dead now there are smart watches'?. And typically I go down the path of explaining the impact on the industry at certain price points etc. But in truth, as I write this and ponder, the truth is, nobody knows for sure other than there is lots to be excited about.
In the last 12 months Iv had the pleasure of getting hands on with a multitude of smartwatches. And one new launch that totally blew me away was the Montblanc Sumit watch. I got to see it at the MR PORTER press day a few weeks back. Not only does it have the technical applications one would expect, it also has the look and feel of a traditional mechanical watch - which I love.
So the big news is that MR PORTER is launching the Smartwatch Collection on site today, available exclusively for two weeks before the collection is available for general release across Montblanc boutiques internationally. The Montblanc Summit Collection is the Maison’s first smartwatch in cooperation with Google. From a design perspective, the case is either a 46mm black PVD coated stainless steel, stainless steel, bi-colour stainless steel or grade 5 Titanium, and comes with a selection of sporty and classic straps in rubber, calfskin leather, and Sfumato calfskin leather handcrafted in the Montblanc Pelletteria in Florence. The slightly curved sapphire glass is a world first in smartwatches (its always cool to be first right). From a technical standpoint, pre-installed apps include Runtastic, Google Play, Google Assistant, Uber and Foursquare and key features comprise of a full round touch-screen display, heart-rate monitor, barometer and a 4GB Flash storage that can be used to sync and play music without the need of a smartphone - all connected via Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth®. And the best news of all - prices start from £765
Check out more over on MR PORTER here.