Monta price drop

[Panerai7]

Would love to read his reasons why it's better than Tudor
Can't be internal chamfers

[toxicavenger]

I don't remember exactly what he said, but the guy made some stupid claims about why you would want his watch over a real watch from a brand like Tudor.

http://www.ablogtowatch.com/monta-ocean ... ch-review/
Michael DiMartini • 7 months ago

First, I do want to thank James and Ariel for reviewing the watch. As I believe this has been made 100% clear, I asked them to review the watch. No payment was made to anyone, and during the review period I purposely respected James’ privacy. This is his honest review of the watch.

Second, to give you a two second background about our company, Everest Horology Products is the owner of the brand MONTA. You may have heard of us, you may not have. We make rubber and leather custom aftermarket watch straps for Rolex owners. They are Swiss made and we use only the highest-level materials, manufacturers and we design everything with the end user in mind. If you Google us, I will let the customers who purchased from us speak about our quality and attention to detail. Five years ago when we first started, we caught a lot of fire from the industry, but I think it can be said that we now have earned our place in the watch world as a creative and precision manufacturer that creates excellent end user experiences. (As a quick shout out thanks to all of past clients, without you we would be nothing.)

Third, my team and I have spent almost twenty months developing this watch and have eat, sleep, and lived this design 24/7. We have hired the best Swiss and French teams to help us build our watch. At times we actually have been told that our designs are impossible and that there simply isn’t the technology to make what we wanted. Instead of giving up, we pushed the best in the industry to do it - multiple patents and proprietary tech was created for this watch to come to life. For example the indices on the dial we were told aren’t possible, but we pursued it and in the end found the best dial maker to make our vision after countless interviews with Swiss dial makers. Our Swiss hand maker is so exclusive that we were told they don’t take on new clients – until we showed them our designs. Now our Rhodium plated, diamond cut, beveled hands are made by the best hand maker in the world. Our bezel assembly is made using a pin system that aligns all 12 pieces perfectly – an industry first. We called on ETERNA to not only give us a movement that we could be proud, but had them make custom parts to ensure its perfection. We did not cut any corner. We did not hire anyone but the best to help us. Our passion and soul is in this watch brand and if you purchase this watch you are buying something that you will not be disappointed.

We had a very successful launch party in St. Louis, where we sold quite a few watches and changed a lot of minds. We invite everyone to our upcoming events that we are planning all over the country through RedBar’s, GTG’s and our current Everest dealers (there are about 180). Come and try the Oceanking on, we would love to meet you and show you our passion.

Michael DiMartini
MONTA and Everest Horology Products
Head Designer and owner

Michael DiMartini > gw01 • 7 months ago

This comment might be a little short since it is late, and I am more then happy to go into this more tomorrow. Tudor Watches's are fantastic, but to be honest - the Pelgos is mishappen, uncomfortable and is made in the ten's of thousands a year. I have owned this watch and didn't like it. But, countless owners do and that is wonderful. The price also is validated by us going into a few retailers into February and will have access to our service department based out of Missouri and Switzerland. They will also have to make money and those select few are risking quite a lot since our production costs are multiples higher then the brands mentioned. I really feel that the best way to truely answer your questions are through seeing the watch. Out of fairness to any brand, the proof is in the pudding - so to say. Contact our office, find out where our retailers are and we can send one to them for you to try on in January.

Michael DiMartini > gw01 • 7 months ago

Thank you for your praise on our accomplishment. I totally understand that you feel at first our price is high and to prove that we are fairly priced here are a few answers:

1. For example, Tudor has been mentioned a lot. They produce a great product and I own a Black Bay, a Tudor Sport, their Heritage Chrono and the new BB 36. All great watches. But to compare, their bezels simply don't turn as well as ours. Why? It is because the designs they are using are designed for simple mass production, not for perfection. The same with pretty much every other brand really except for Rolex. We aimed to create a bezel that was our own unique design to compete with that unique feel. I could go into every detail of our design but comparing each aspect to a Tudor, that is not who I am. They make a great product and love their brand. But, with that I feel that what we put into each watch is significantly more then any brand at that price. One aspect of our pricing is dictated on the fact that the tech and the quality in this watch is far superior to anything on the market until you get past about $5500.00.

2. Value in Luxury is hard to validate. But, for starters - our watch is incredibly exclusive. We are talking about making 500 total watches in 2017. Omega (another great brand that I highly respect) produced a limited edition Seamster 300m for the Spectre Movie. They made 7007 of a limited edition. Our watch is more of a Mclaren then the latest Mercedes SL 550 (but in this example priced less.) Also, just like a fine tailor or a high end shoe maker - you are in touch with the CEO directly who personally designs the watches with his small team of elite creative minds. We are not a faceless brand. Luxury equals exclusivity and you will find that here.

3. Warranty. Our warranty is simply unrivaled - 5 years and full restoration including a new rubber strap. We do not offer a 2 year warranty like 99% of other Swiss brands. We offer something that has never been done because our watches have a unique construction and build quality that will last for decades of daily use. This is not something that is possible to offer in a watch at a price point of $1000 using low cost manufacturers and movements that are nowhere near the quality of the ETERNA 3909A.

4. I will agree, name/heritage is something that we just do not have yet. But, neither did Rolex, MB&F, TELSA, or even Everest (our parent company). It was built through hard work, keeping their word and giving nothing but the best at any level to its customers. We will keep on doing that and I suspect that it will be incredibly obvious if we meet one day. Which I hope that we can.

5. Movement. Our movements are the closest thing to in-house in the sense of quality and performance. The Caliber 3909A is incredibly expensive and is entirely Swiss made. On top of everything, we have quite a few parts re-made to ensure the exclusivity of the caliber. Then we have the movement tuned to better then -4/+6. Then we test the movement ourselves to ensure it passes these requirements. The movement is so important to us since it is the heart of the watch and if it doesn't tell excellent time - why wear it in the first place.

Thanks for the great question and hope this sheds some light on your questions.
Mike

[Panerai7]

I stopped reading after Pelagos bit

[CGSshorty]

I could never buy an expensive product from someone with such poor spelling.

[JP Chestnut]

This shows a fundamental lack of market knowledge, or honesty:
" 3. Warranty. Our warranty is simply unrivaled - 5 years and full restoration including a new rubber strap. We do not offer a 2 year warranty like 99% of other Swiss brands. We offer something that has never been done because our watches have a unique construction and build quality that will last for decades of daily use. This is not something that is possible to offer in a watch at a price point of $1000 using low cost manufacturers and movements that are nowhere near the quality of the ETERNA 3909A."

Rolex sells approximately as many watches as every other brand combined. They offer a 5 year warranty. Omega sells a huge number of watches and their non-ETA based models are all 3 year warranty.

[gwells]

and even christopher ward offers a 5 yr warranty. it's not that unique.

i thought the 8500 and later movements from omega were 4 yr, not 3 yr.

[JP Chestnut]

and even christopher ward offers a 5 yr warranty. it's not that unique.

i thought the 8500 and later movements from omega were 4 yr, not 3 yr.

I was actually thinking that might be the case. I don't know. I think B'ling offers a super long warranty on at least some of their models too.

On edit: "regular" movements are 2 years. ETA based co-ax movements are 3 years, and all the "in house" movements are 4 years. Even more, I expect that Swatch will actually be a company in five years. The same can't be said about Monta.

[Chocodove]

The same can't be said about Monta.

Yeah, but just think positively....when the watches and Eterna are done in five years, perhaps you'll be able to trade it in for a bunch of really expensive rubber straps!

[hoppyjr]

Omega does some 4-year stuff too.

I think it hurts a brand (like Monta) when they overhype.

Just deliver a solid product, in a reasonable time, at a reasonable price - like Graeme has done with SAS - and your reputation will speak for itself. I had a piece of lint under crystal on my Sea-1 (post Dusty Dievas affair) so I hit up a local watchmaker to remove it. He was extremely impressed with the watch and asked how much it cost. I asked him to guess and he said $3-4,000? I told him less than $1k and he couldn't believe it.

[dukerules]

LOL. I actually really like this watch, but I lost a lot of respect here. Attacking the Pelagos? That's crazy talk. I mean, just look at this. Speaks for itself IMO.

[JP Chestnut]

^^^ That watch sucks. There's no way that it took ALMOST 20 MONTHS to design.

#montafolifeyo

[hoppyjr]

LOL. I actually really like this watch, but I lost a lot of respect here. Attacking the Pelagos? That's crazy talk. I mean, just look at this. Speaks for itself IMO.

It really is a fantastic watch. Comfortable, attractive, versatile, and relatively affordable. I regret flipping the first half-dozen, but hope to make the LHD a keeper.

[Panerai7]

Anyone knows who this hand maker Is?

"Our Swiss hand maker is so exclusive that we were told they don’t take on new clients – until we showed them our designs. Now our Rhodium plated, diamond cut, beveled hands are made by the best hand maker in the world"

[JP Chestnut]

I've never seen a hand on a swiss watch that's as nice as a grand seiko. They should have imported a samurai sword maker on an H1B visa to make their hands in the USA. Now THAT'S a story.

[gwells]

For example the indices on the dial we were told aren’t possible, but we pursued it and in the end found the best dial maker to make our vision after countless interviews with Swiss dial makers. Our Swiss hand maker is so exclusive that we were told they don’t take on new clients – until we showed them our designs.

so what's this groundbreaking indices thing on this watch?

[JP Chestnut]

I see some chamfers on the indicies and some bevels on the hands. They look a little nicer than usual. The second hand looks better than on my omega PO that I happen to be wearing today. The angles on the indices actually look very similar to an older Tudor big block.

No comparison to a $1,500 quartz GS though.

Had they released this at $1,750 without the bullshit it might have been a smash. It looks nice.

[r.palace]

Had they released this at $1,750 without the bullshit it might have been a smash. It looks nice.

Boom.

[Panerai7]

It does look nice minus the internal chamfers, Rolex-y Meters to Feet conversion and that date window frame (I personally don't like those 3 items) and I don't like a diver without crown guards but sometimes it looks cool. But after reading what Terry posted I'm not interested

[alis_aquilae]

Planned 500 pieces to be made in 2017.........ouch!

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

[streetracer101]

It does look nice minus the internal chamfers, Rolex-y Meters to Feet conversion and that date window frame (I personally don't like those 3 items) and I don't like a diver without crown guards but sometimes it looks cool. But after reading what Terry posted I'm not interested

This. The meters to feet doesn't bother much, but the internal chamfers look stupid and the crown looks like it belongs on a different watch. It's not a bad watch, but the original asking price and PR didn't help it. Hopefully they learn from their missteps with the next release. I'd be interested in the field watch if they come in around $1k or less.

[Panerai7]

It does look nice minus the internal chamfers, Rolex-y Meters to Feet conversion and that date window frame (I personally don't like those 3 items) and I don't like a diver without crown guards but sometimes it looks cool. But after reading what Terry posted I'm not interested

This. The meters to feet doesn't bother much, but the internal chamfers look stupid and the crown looks like it belongs on a different watch. It's not a bad watch, but the original asking price and PR didn't help it. Hopefully they learn from their missteps with the next release. I'd be interested in the field watch if they come in around $1k or less.

Good points.

[streetracer101]

Apparently they also released a total of 15 blue dialed divers a month ago. 13 are still left at the discounted price of $2300, so I guess these aren't as hot as the hype men make them out to be. That said, these do look nice if you like blue dials (although I'd prefer a slightly darker shade).

[JP Chestnut]

I like the blue one, but I probably wouldn't buy it at half of $2300.

[r.palace]

Haven't read if anyone feels this way but just looking at the dial I feel the name is pushed down too much. The logo takes up too much real estate. You'd have to go with either/or or if both have to be on there couple them closer/smaller. The "Monta" is almost halfway down the dial

[Panerai7]

I didn't notice that Ralph but now that you mentioned it, you're right