FROM THE EDITORS Letters + Events
Each watch in the new Montblanc 1858 Zero Oxygen 8000 Capsule Collection features a Sfumato dark grey Glacier pattern dial , replicating the color of the rock and ice at 8,000 meters .
TELLING THE STORY
Nancy Olson Managing Editor | nancy @ isochronmedia . com
S torytelling and imagery are important players in communication , creating connection , emotion and , as a result , remembrance . Watches and Wonders 2023 in Geneva was rife with stories , often told most dramatically by the watch brands ’ respective exhibit space . From the fantasy of jewels at Van Cleef & Arpels to A . Lange & Sohne ’ s Odysseus Chronograph-dominated architectural marvel , with many others in between , there was a lot to take in and even more to inspire .
Walking into the Montblanc booth , for example , was like entering a mountain landscape , where shades of gray , white and wood conjured the primary palette and motif of this year ’ s watch debuts . The bold imagery also served as a link between the art of writing — Montblanc ’ s foundation in pens since 1906 — time , and the theme of exploration . And owing to the brand ’ s reputation in handcrafting its pen points , the centerpiece was a dramatic oversize Montblanc nib pendulum , which uninterruptedly drew mountain scenes on a round canvas suggestive of a watch dial .
Montblanc ’ s Managing Director Watch Division Laurent Lecamp emphasized the importance of imagery and storytelling to share important themes . “ Story is the soul of the world of Montblanc ,” he explained to me during our recent interview . Thus the company often engages high-profile individuals , fans of the brand , to help recount the narrative .
Reinhold Messner and Nimsdai Purja , mountaineers and Montblanc “ Mark-Makers ,” inspired Montblanc ’ s intricate art-inspired booth space , as well as the new watches in the collection . Even the walls told a tale , incorporating the men ’ s words taken from their written accounts of climbing expeditions .
Following suit , the 1858 Zero Oxygen The 8000 watch collection , made using zero oxygen technology and on display for the first time in Geneva , revealed colors that recall the rock and ice found at high altitudes .
Taking the imagery one step further , the very beautiful and complex Montblanc Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph , displayed a distressed steel case created partly by tumbling and brushing the metal with quartzite straight from the mountain , Mont Blanc . Storytelling at its finest and a picture I won ’ t soon forget .
8 | INTERNATIONAL WRISTWATCH | SPRING 2023