Montblanc (company)
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| Private limited liability company | |
| Industry | Luxury goods |
| Founded | 1906 |
| Headquarters | Hamburg, Germany |
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Number of locations
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449 Boutiques (2012) |
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Key people
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Nicolas Baretzki (CEO) |
| Products | Pens, Leather, Watches, Jewellery, Sunglasses, Perfume, Cufflinks |
| Parent | Richemont |
| Website | www.montblanc.com |
Montblanc International GmbH (pronounced: [mo(n) blaw(n)] or [mon blaan(k)]) is a German manufacturer of luxury writing instruments, watches, jewellery and leather goods, often identified by their "White Snowflake" logo.
The start of the "modern" new century had a stimulating effect on inventors and craftsmen. Ingenuity and imagination helped the fountain pen to make its technical and commercial breakthrough as a writing instrument. It was a Hamburg banker, Alfred Nehemias, and a Berlin engineer, August Eberstein, together who recognised the signs of time and decided to produce simplicissimus pens, back in the 1906. After a short period of time Wilhelm Dziambor, Christian Lausen and later Claus Johannes Voss took over the business and thus laid the foundation for the future internationally successful company Montblanc. Their first model was the Rouge et Noir in 1909 followed in 1910 by the pen that was later to give the company its new name, Montblanc. The Meisterstück name (English: "Masterpiece", the name used for export) was used for the first time in 1924, for the top lines of fountain pens. Today, the Mont Blanc brand is on other goods besides pens, including watches, jewellery, fragrances, leather goods and eyewear.
The company was acquired by Dunhill in 1977, following which lower price pens were dropped and the brand was used on a wide range of luxury goods other than pens.
Today, Montblanc forms part of the Richemont group. Its sister companies include luxury brands Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chloé, and Baume et Mercier. Mont Blanc is owned, through Richemont, by the South African Rupert Family.
A trademark identified with Montblanc is the white stylized six-pointed star with rounded edges, representative of the Mont Blanc snowcap from above, the symbol being adopted in 1913. The number "4810," the mountain's height in meters, is also a commonly recurring theme.
In January 2014, Hugh Jackman was announced as Montblanc's Global Brand Ambassador, outside of US.
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Wikipedia