Montblanc

Montblanc traces its origins to 1906, when the engineer August Eberstein, the banker Alfred Nehemias and the stationer Claus-Johannes Voss began producing fountain pens in Berlin; the company moved to Hamburg in 1907 and traded as Simplo Filler Pen Co. The Montblanc name, first used for a pen around 1910, became the company name in 1934. The Meisterstück fountain pen dates from 1924. The company was acquired by Alfred Dunhill in 1977 and has belonged to Richemont since 1993.

Watchmaking began in 1997 with the founding of Montblanc Montre SA in Le Locle. In 2006 Richemont acquired the Villeret manufacture Minerva, a maker of chronographs and stopwatches founded in 1858, and in 2007 placed it under Montblanc, giving the brand hand-finished chronograph calibres for its top references. Current lines include 1858 (a heritage sports range drawing on Minerva), Heritage, Star Legacy, TimeWalker and the Summit smartwatch.