Hello Montblanc friends,

To prepare a web article (in french and english ) for September, for my web site; i have obtained some meeting with several manufacturers.
Each time i try to get great ideas from FPN members before starting the interviews.
This time, I will interview Michel Adé, the 29 th July in Paris, and i am sure that he will be more than happy to get questions questions from you.
So.. if you have questions about them, i will be happy to ask them ( as for all the other manufacturer, i do not always get the answers :-)).
Questions can be about fountain pen but also about watches..
thanks for your help
Best regards
Jean Elie
www.penandco.com

Hi epictete

Can you ask Michel Adé if a titanium, a stainless steel and a carbon version of the 149 will be offered for sale. I also would like to know if MB is ready to make a limited re edition of the 139.

thanks in advance

regards

georges

Thanks for asking. One question is whether MB intends to eliminate distribution of its products, including limited edition pens, from independent retail establishments in favor of its boutiques. This may or may not be touchy to you, however, it is a sore point for some of us.

Best regards and have a good interview

Merci Georges :-), i dream about a real pure re edition of the 139.
Good question Brian, it cost nothing to ask...
Best regards
Jean Elie

+1 for the 139 re-edition.

+2 for the 139 reissue.

Also, can the 149 be issued in another color, like burgundy, or in other materials?

Mmmmm, I'm dreaming of a onyx 149.
+1 for the MB boutique question

Monsieur Ade -

Your firm, Montblanc, has very successfully promoted the fountain pen from utilitarian tool to luxury lifestyle objet d'art. Many patrons purchase their one and only fountain pen from Montblanc. And yet, many novices unfamiliar with fountain pens, their use, and their maintenance, come away from their purchase of a Montblanc fountain pen disappointed. The flow of their new pen is uneven - poorly starting and frequently skipping. Messy and destructive leaks spoil the fountain pen experience.

While Montblanc pens may not have more quality control problems than other fountain pens, Montblanc has positioned itself in the luxury market, and quality control for luxury items is expected to be flawless.

Some have suggested that every Montblanc fountain pen sold should be inked, thoroughly tested, and demonstrated by Boutique sales staff after the sale but before presenting the pen to its new owner. Some have recommended the Montblanc documentation include a thorough description of preventative maintenance - monthly flushing and overnight soaking to prevent clogs.

M. Ade, what steps can Montblanc take to prevent bad pens from reaching good customers?

M. Ade -

The flagship Montblanc 149 fountain pen is traditionally only available with gold plated furniture. Other Montblanc pens are offered in a choice of furniture, but the 149 is only offered in gold.

Contemporary men's fashion trends now seem to favor white prescious metals - sterling, white gold, and platinum - rather than yellow gold.

Will Montblanc offer a 149 fountain pen with white prescious metal furniture?

M. Ade -

The white Montblanc star is rendered in white plastic, except for the upper level limited edition pens, where the star is crafted in shimmering mother of pearl.

To be frank, the white plastic star looks dull and cheap.

Would Montblanc consider offering an optional replacement for the plastic star with a mother-of-pearl replacement? The exchange could be easily done at Montblanc Boutiques for an additional charge.

Is Montblanc considering creating any new ink colors?

John

+3 here for the re-edition of good old 139
Possible?

My wish list of interview questions support those already proposed in this thread:

1. A LE re-release of the 139
2. Official confirmation of the future distribution network for MB pens (boutique vs authorized independent sellers)
3. Use of mother of pearl star on all their high-end Meisterstuck (146 & 149) and LE pens

Thanks for the opportunity to help you frame up your interview questions.

Mark

Mark,

Montblanc already uses the Mother of Pearl star on their high-end Meisterstück (Classique, LeGrand and 149) writing instruments in solid gold or solid platinum. Just the ordinary black resin pens and some less expensive Solitaire models come with the white star. IMHO the Mother of Pearl star must be reserved for the very special and valuable pens.

Axel

Axel I respectfully disagree. Cheap dull plastic stars are used on even the 4810 editions of the Patron of the Arts Series - and these are $2000 pens. Cheap dull plastic stars are used on the entire Writers Series.

If Montblanc is saving the mother of pearl star for "upline" pens, they are saving what looks good for use in 0.01% of their sales, and leaving 99.99% of their sales with entry level cheap dull plastic.

Car companies quickly learned that saving co-ordinating color side mirrors and door handles for thier upline models was a bad marketing move - it just made customers less likely to buy. Montblanc should pay attention to the lesson they learned.

The flagship pen of the company should not be crafted of entry level parts. And if the black resin 149 is to continue as the iconic flagship piece, then at least the company should offer the option of upgrading the star.

Axel,

Thanks for your point of view. However, I am with yachtsilverswan on this issue. Given the price of the WE and PoA series surely they warrant mother of pearl stars. I also believe that the iconic 149 (and to a lesser degree the 146 as not all users can comfortably use the 149) deserves this treatment as well.

Mark

139 +whatever number I am

Maybe there's a medium in between Mother of Pearl and plastic that can be used. The Mother of Pearl does need to kept special.

This is somewhat the case already where pens in an older style (e.g Fitzgerald) have a slightly aged looking ivory plastic star.

Thanks for those elements, if you have other ideas do not hesitate.
If anyone can send me pics about the 139 i will appreciate ( email contact@penandco.com )
Many thanks again
Best
Jean Elie

What was the thinking behind the cancellation of the Noblesse Oblige? Does Mont Blanc have any plans to introduce a relatively less expensive in the near future?

Sincerely,

Starving Grad Student.

Hello Jean,

Could you ask if there's any plan of founding an official collectors club?

Regards,
Darius

Jake and Darius, good questions,i thought that there were a kind of private club for MB owners ( limited editions at least ! )
Thanks
Jean ELie

Jean ELie -- you're welcome. The issue is particularly vexing because of the experience I wrote about in brief here. Though I very much liked that pen, I can't really afford the next logical space up, the Meisterstrucks, and so am in MB no-man's land.

Jake,
There is a Noblesse being offered on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=110271997817

I remembered another question which I've been wondering about. Any plan to release a solitaire 147 Traveller. I know the same question was asked about the 149, but I think 147 is more doable, since it has been released in vereil in the past.

Darius,
I have a LeGrand Solitaire 147 Traveller in Sterling Silver pinstripe (as well as a 147 Vermeil and both Doué 147s with a Sterling Silver and a Vermeil cap).
But these four #147' models are discontinued already years ago as well as the four LeGrand Solitaire rollerballs due to the lack of demand.
Axel

Axel,
I know these were made. I've seen pictures of the vermeil. But I think there should be some choice in current production.
Don't you agree?
Darius

Hmm , the Traveller is not one of the best sellers within the Meisterstück line and to re-enlarge the variations of models would not increase the total number of pieces in production lot.
But on the other hand there are quite a number of models (e.g. within the Bohéme lines) which are even worse in the sales statistic ...

So why not? It costs nothing to ask!

Axel

Ask him what portion of Montblanc worldwide gross sales are pen merchandise and services, distinct from all other Montblanc merchandise and services.

Fred

I think most of what you want to know can be found at http://www.richemont.com/images/stories/3%...AR_2008_web.pdf , even if not, it is interesting reading.

Allan

Dear Jean Elie,

I really appreciate this!

Also I mostly agree on what has been said so far:

• It would be great to have a 139 style pen available; it does not need to be a limited edition - just a "regular" Meisterstück flattop choice would be great (136 or 138 size). Maybe even similar to the Donation pens series but without the "theme decorations"
• Collectors club would be great as well. Same with nice catalog material for the customer which actually shows the pens and not mostly leather, jewellery and watches. There are so many nice special editions and limited editions which are not even mentioned in catalogs available to the customer - this was much better in the 1990's!
• I really like their extended range of ink colors as well as their special edition scented inks - this is great and MB should keep it up this way.
• A slightly more pen (users/collectors) orientated marketing would be great; if I enter a MB boutique I would love to feel entering a pen store and not a leather and jewelery store.

About nib choices: a true EF would be cool as well as a stub nib option.


I'll add more if I can think of something else.

Looking forward to read your article.


Michael

Hello to all of you,

I just came out from more than 1 hour interview with him and we talked a lot about Montblanc, fountain pens and watches ( i do not you but..i also love watches ).
He joined the head office of MB France only 8 months ago so he was not able to answer all the questions, I will complete his notes with the french MB Marketing girl wich will also provide me news and pics about the coming pens.
The article will be ready in September ( I have to type the 1 hour in text, to have it checked by MB than to have it translated in english ).
I hate to do 100% teasing so here are some firsts elements:
About its distribution,MB wants to increase their corner shop and to have retailers able to present more than 2 or 10 pens to , so it means spaces..
About 139 sorry folks not for the moment, he wrote down the idea.
About an official collection club,he did not know on this point if something will be done in Germany ( do you have any news about this? ) but he is ok to promote the idea based on non commercial action. I have proposed him to put a post on the forum asking people ideas of contents, communication...about a potential Official Montblanc collectioner club, he's ok.
So far, i have no garanty that this club will be created, i have no ideas about if there s something in Germany about that and i hate asking people contributions if there is no results after.
What do you think about this point?
Thanks again to all of you and in the article i will mention FPN of course.
Best
Jean Elie Sobolevicius
www.penandco.com