Founded in 1906 as a pen-making company, Montblanc transformed itself into a luxury goods maker in the mid-1990s, adding limited-edition watches, jewelry, leather goods and perfume. Today, the writing instruments business makes up less than 50 per cent of the company’s total production, while the number of its boutiques has increased to 330 worldwide.
The company became a subsidiary of the Switzerland-
based Compagnie Financi?re Richemont, the world’s second-largest luxury goods company after LVMH. Chief Executive Lutz Bethge says the Middle East and Asia are the new focus areas for Montblanc’s growth. The firm opened its largest boutique in the Middle East at Dubai Mall last month. Its largest store worldwide is a multi-storey boutique in Shanghai. Excerpts from an interview:
Montblanc has moved from a writing instruments manufacturer to other products such as jewelry and watches. What prompted the diversification?
In the writing business, we became known for our craftsmanship, for classical, timeless design which was the basis for the iconic product.
But in the early 1990s, we started to diversify and go into areas where our customers would feel Montblanc would have the basics right. This is in watches, leather products, and jewelry in recent years. Today, the brand is significantly developed in interna
tional jewelry. This does not mean that writing instruments are no longer our focus. Writing instruments have changed. Today, writing instruments are much more jewelry that happen to write. And we are taking this to the next level. We are creating special editions. We are inviting our special customers to design their own writing instruments.
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