JÉRÔME LAMBERT
Discovering a Treasure
“THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO, when I was seven years old, my grandfather gave me a Texas Instruments quartz watch. It was very meaningful because it showed me that I had been given responsibility to manage my time,” says Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Montblanc International. “As we say in French, it meant I had reached my ‘âge de raison’. Also, it changed my visibility at school. I had an exquisite watch to show to my friends. It increased my popularity, at least for a few weeks. Later, when I was around 12, my friends showed me their father’s Meisterstück pen in his study. I can picture the study, the position of the desk, the emblem. They told me: ‘It’s a Montblanc’. It was like discovering a treasure.”
He is not sure how many watches he has collected over the years. “Oh, I have not counted them, so I honestly do not know,” he replies. “With watches, it is like having children – you love them all. However, when it comes to the finishing and decoration of complicated movements I am extremely thrilled. If money were no object, the ultimate timepiece I would like to buy would not be a watch, but The Atmos, a mechanical clock manufactured by Jaeger-LeCoultre. It does not need to be wound manually. It gets the energy it needs to run from temperature and atmospheric pressure changes in the environment, and it can run for years without human intervention.”
A true high flyer in the Swiss watch industry, Lambert was appointed CEO of JaegerLeCoultre, one of the greatest names in haute horlogerie with a history going back to 1833, when he was in his early thirties. The holder of an MBA and married with two children, he began his career at Jaeger-LeCoultre as Financial Controller in 1996. Three years later he became Chief Financial and Operating Officer. In 2002 he stepped up to CEO – a meteoric rise indeed. Now he is running a company that made its name as a manufacturer of some of the world’s finest writing instruments before expanding its repertoire to include upscale timepieces.
Lambert says one of the best things about being in the top job is that he gets the chance to try out every new product made by his company, as soon as it becomes available. “I have been wearing all timepieces in the Montblanc Meisterstück Heritage Collection. Because you can see and feel all the attention that’s been paid to the smallest details, of course I very much like to wear the Montblanc Meisterstück Heritage Perpetual Calendar. Another timepiece I just had for one of the last events I attended was the Montblanc Timewalker 100. Its one-hundredth of a second hand is incredible to observe. The dial’s attractions can only be topped by turning the watch around and contemplating the beautiful movement. And, of course, I like to wear our new Timewalker Extreme DLC, like our brand ambassador, Hugh Jackman.”
Lambert spent 17 years at Jaeger-LeCoultre, but he says the transition to Montblanc has been seamless. “I have been extremely well settling in, as we started at full speed straight away and the teams have been fantastic. When I started at Montblanc, I first visited our watch manufactures in Le Locle and Villeret, and our Montblanc Pelletteria for leather goods in Florence, as well as our design and development studios. The talent, experience and dedication I witnessed really impressed me. The teams have done a tremendous job since I arrived, thus supporting me a lot in my new role.”
Considering the major challenges facing Montblanc in today’s marketplace, he responds: “Montblanc is the maison of fine lifetime companions. Our customers all over the world are extremely discerning, recognising and appreciating this heritage of the Montblanc maison. It is wonderful that this appreciation continues to move on from generation to generation. It also creates a huge responsibility to meet these high expectations of our customers, and to create new products that are exciting and timeless at the same time. Our everyday challenge is to create products that have this unique combination of being groundbreaking innovations and timeless fine lifetime companions. Being true to our long heritage and the DNA of our maison is the major challenge in everything we do, and at the same
time this is giving us the confidence of handling this unique maison successfully.
“The major difference from my perspective is that JaegerLeCoultre is a pure watchmaking maison with a Swiss-French heritage that is strongly reflected in the corporate culture. At Montblanc, you have not only the variety of additional product categories but also the corporate culture that comes with each category based on the origins of our manufactures, our watch manufactures in Switzerland, our pelletteria in Florence and our artisan atelier and nib manufacture in Hamburg. On top of that, Montblanc has been the undisputed leader in the writing instrument business for more than a century. When I joined Montblanc, I was deeply impressed how all the facets of writing culture in its intellectual, aesthetical and functional creating of beautifully hand-crafted writing
“My driving force is passion. Passion is about going all the extra mile, and experiencing this as pleasure.”
instruments are embraced by the maison, and we are very happy that our customers appreciate our passion and expertise. This heritage is reflected in all our categories. We live up to the highest standards for every product we develop in each category, as if we were a pure player in this field. And we can credibly do so as we have our own state-of-the-art manufactures for each product category, dating back to 1858. On top of this, we have the advantage to add functions and benefits by cross-category approaches, such as our 90 Years Spirit of Meisterstück Collection.”
How does Lambert describe his leadership style? “I understand my role as bringing all the talent, experience and dedication of our teams that I witnessed during my first weeks with Montblanc to life and to demonstrate what this unique maison is capable of,” he declares. “My driving force is passion. Passion is about going all the extra mile, and experiencing this as pleasure. It is the passion of our teams all over the world that is reflected in everything we do – also in my daily work.”
One of Lambert’s objectives is to visit every one of Montblanc’s stores all over the world. He has seen a large number of them so far, but not the ones in Indonesia yet. “It is very important for me to regularly be in direct contact with our customers,” he explains. “I have many opportunities to meet them at boutique openings, special client events and manufacture visits.”
He has been enjoying the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Meisterstück pen. “Ever since 1924, the Montblanc Meisterstück writing instrument has represented consummate excellence, the striving for perfection and masterly craftsmanship,” says Lambert. “Precisely this attitude determines the extremely high standards that Montblanc upholds, so that it can consistently develop and produce the finest timepieces and innovative calibres with the highest standards of traditional Swiss watchmaking. This year marks 90 years of achievement for our iconic Montblanc Meisterstück. True to the Meisterstück spirit, cornerstone of the values that our maison stands for, we have unveiled meticulously crafted timepieces. We unveiled the Montblanc Meisterstück Heritage Collection at SIHH (the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) in Geneva this year. Alongside these timepieces is a unique selection of sensual leather goods, refined accessories and of course a new Meisterstück writing instrument collection that further ‘ writes’ the story of our timeless icon.”
How important are timepieces to Montblanc in the long term? Lambert refuses to prioritise one product category over another. “For me leather goods are priority one, watches are priority one, writing instruments are priority one and likewise accessories,” he says. “All have a strong potential - also when it comes to the future of writing culture. The faster the world becomes, the more people strive for taking time and writing when things are really important. And, of course, signatures are always very important. Thus, you would like to sign with a special fountain pen like the Montblanc Meisterstück - being a symbol of style, achievement, timeless elegance and a true luxury icon. In addition, we have introduced fine writing to the digital world with the first ever e-Starwalker writing instrument and the Pix Pen, where we perfectly combine the elegance and heritage of Montblanc with the cutting-edge technology of Samsung.”
Montblanc is a relative newcomer to the watch business. What makes its models special or unique? Lambert talks about his company’s “unique set-up”, noting: “We have two manufactures in Switzerland, but do not consider them as separate companies. We leverage on the deep know-how of our manufacture in Villeret in movement development expertise and traditional artisanal craftsmanship with its preindustrial way of fine watchmaking. It has a savoir-faire that you will rarely find anywhere else in the industry. This unique expertise we continue with the extensive competence of Montblanc Le Locle as a manufacture and quality testing laboratory. In 2014, we introduced our guiding principle of ‘sharing our passion for fine watchmaking’. This means that we are bringing the codes of fine watchmaking to a new segment by leveraging on the unique combination of both our manufactures in Switzerland. We understand the codes in terms of refined traditional design language, but also in terms of mechanical construction and the spirit of innovation. In this way we have created a new segment in fine watchmaking that in my opinion no other brand can address.”
Montblanc used Watches & Wonders 2014 in Hong Kong as an opportunity to unveil its new Metamorphosis II timepiece. This, says the CEO, “has turned the spotlight on one of the most complex movements ever developed and designed in our workshops in Villeret.” The most striking feature of the timepiece is its “metamorphosis”, concept which is driven by a highly complex mechanical movement with 746 components and protected by various patents that took over four years to develop. “It’s a creative and innovative way to combine the characteristics of traditional fine watchmaking with revolutionary principles of innovation that reflect our maison’s heritage and DNA in a spectacular interpretation,” says Lambert. The timepiece will be produced in a very limited edition of 18 pieces.
This year’s Watches & Wonders was the second event to be held in Hong Kong. Lambert describes the show as “a very important platform for us. We have brought the atmosphere of Montblanc’s Swiss fine watchmaking heritage to our Asian clients. The visitors to the show had the chance to experience the substance of Montblanc presented by the manufacture and craftsmanship savoir-faire and the maison’s haute horlogerie watchmaking skills and competence. Our customers seemed to appreciate our exhibition very much. Therefore, we will continue to work in this direction next year, when visitors might feel and breathe even more the passion and creativity of the craftsmen in our manufactures. And for sure, we will surprise our guests again with new groundbreaking timepieces.”