When you think Montblanc, the thoughts of handsome-looking pens and smart-looking wallets come to mind. If you haven’t been following this luxury brand, it may surprise you that the company has consistently been making steps to jump on the tech bandwagon. From their smartwatch accessories to digitisation writing tools, they’ve brought simple tech innovations to a market that’s not often thought as forerunners for technology.
The Montblanc Summit is an ideal case for this approach. Much like its products, the design is simple and elegant, lending itself well as purposeful dress watch – its watch faces are classy and elegant – while it adds some built-in features on top of a standard Android Wear device. The watch uses premium parts and is well-finished; the Snapdragon 2100 processor is powerful, while the domed sapphire glass tough. The primary button, built into non-rotating crown is functional although it at times feels a little creaky. The watch is rated IP68, which means short of swimming, this watch is essentially ‘life-proof’. The straps are easily changeable, which helps if you use it for runs. There are over 300 possible combinations, which is dandy.
The Summit has a heart rate monitor built-in for this purpose. So essentially, it’s like having a basic fitness tracker like a Fitbit Alta built-in, so those who are a bit conscious of their lifestyle would have the option to try it out – it also comes with a Runtastic app so you can do some basic measurements. There’s no GPS however – which is still understandable because of its battery demands; as it is, the watch needs to be charged daily. However, the Summit also does not include NFC, which would have made it a real lifestyle watch because of payment possibilities.
Still, it’s understandable why Montblanc wanted to strike a balance between simplicity and introducing technology for its fans, and to that end, it sort of works; the watch doesn’t feel overly complicated and is relatively easy to get into.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Montblanc Summit is a stylish Android Wear watch that is designed not to be intimidating for new smartwatch users. It’s easy to get into, easily customisable, and it does the basics well; it runs as smooth as butter. Techie, advanced users may find the feature set inadequate, however.
S$1,340
www.montblanc.com
