Montblanc is the latest maker of traditional watches to create its own smartwatch. TAG Heuer’s success with the TAG Heuer Connected – the brand says it sold some 60,000 smartwatches last year – has no doubt encouraged rivals to go down the same digital route.

The Summit smartwatch is dressed up like an analogue wristwatch, but entirely electronic inside. Running Google’s Android Wear 2.0 and powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, the Summit smartwatch does what a smartwatch does, though it lacks certain features that competitors possess, like GPS for instance.

Tech in brief

The Summit smartwatch has the usual expected of such a watch, including health and fitness apps, weather, emails and messages, as well as a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone (either Android or iOS). It does not, however, have GPS or NFC mobile payments.

Covered by a slightly domed sapphire crystal, the AMOLED screen is 1.39in, displaying 400 by 400 pixels. It can display various faces, including three that are digital recreations of the dials found in the 1858 Collection, including the 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter.

The screen is “always on”, meaning it does not go to sleep and turn off when not in use. Instead, the face switches to black and white; tapping it restores the colour.

Charging is done via a cradle that comes with the watch. On a full charge the watch will run a day with normal use.

Shape and feel

Though similar in shape to the 1858 watch case – right down to the onion-shaped crown that’s not a crown but a pusher – the Summit is even larger at 46mm in diameter and 12.5mm high. That makes it a very large watch, too large for someone who wants an unobtrusive timepiece.

It’s available in stainless steel (with the option of black coating) or titanium, with a plastic case back.

The Summit smartwatch next to the 41mm Heritage Spirit Orbis Terranum

The materials give it a feel similar to an old school watch, with the screen off it takes a moment to realise it’s a smartwatch.

Admirably, Montblanc labels the watch “Made in China” on the back – as all smartwatches are – though it does say the watch is designed in Switzerland while the strap is made in Italy.

Price and availability 

The Summit smartwatch will be available at Montblanc boutiques and retailers starting May 2017. It starts at US$890 or S$1340 for the steel model and just over US$1000 for the titanium.

It was only a matter of time before it happened, and now it has: an auction dedicated solely to Heuer watches, in the grand tradition of thematic sales like that for Patek Philippe’s 150th anniversary in 1989 or the more recent Omegamania from a decade ago.

Taking place on November 11, 2017 under the aegis of Phillips in Geneva, the sale is made up of 49 exceptionally rare Heuer chronographs made in the two decades between 1962 and 1982.

The line-up will include a “first execution” Autavia ref. 2446 (pictured above) and a Monaco ref. 74033N “Dark Lord”. The line-up was put together by Richard Crosthwaite and Paul Gavin, both English Heuer collectors who have authored two books on the brand.

In a relatively brief period Heuer has become a darling of vintage watch collecting, thanks to relentlessly upbeat features in the media, ever rising auction prices, as well as its chief executive Jean-Claude Biver.

Autavia Chronomatic ref. 1163T “Siffert”

During an interview with your correspondent in November last year, Mr Biver explained TAG Heuer was working with Eric Tortella, a Patek Philippe specialist well known in the watch auction circuit to build its heritage department. And Mr Biver let on that he himself was buying vintage Heuer watches, selectively, at auction.

Monaco ref. 1133B with “no lume” dial

Carrera ref. 2447S “Yachting” with tropical dial

The full catalogue for the thematic sale will be available closer to the date of the auction.