Monday December 15, 2008
A Star is born
Stories by VIVIENNE PAL
Montblanc celebrates the premiere of its first calibre watch, the Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec.
FROM across the room, Leonardi da Vinci critically eyed the Chinese water clock.
“Bah,” he grumbled, looking at what resembled a huge and clumsy looking contraption. “If I had taken more trouble to expand my idea on the timekeeping properties of the pendulum, I would’ve come up with a finer clock than Su Song’s, and certainly gotten a more befitting recognition than Galilei. I wonder what that poncey-looking Louis thinks.”
Nicolas Rieussec (played by MiG Ayesa) on his quest to build the first chronograph timepiece, as depicted in Montblanc’s rock opera Soulmaker. – Photos courtesy of MONTBLANC Who knows if the Florentine would have ever made such caustic remarks over the inventions of his timekeeping peers, but in the Journey Room, you could let your imagination run wild.
The Journey Room was part of the grandiose plan that luxury brand Montblanc had in store for more than 4,000 local and foreign invited guests, celebrities, and media representatives in Beijing on Nov 7.
The date was a moment in history – a tribute, really, to history on so many levels, particularly the milestones of timekeeping – as Montblanc celebrated the premiere of its first calibre watch, the Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Monopusher Chronograph at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Incidentally, Montblanc was the first entity to hold a performance at the stadium after the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August.
Aptly themed A Journey Through Time, the event lived up to the extravagance and uniqueness of Montblanc’s previous events in Shanghai: the Greta Garbo party in 2005; Soulmaker in 2006, its largest event ever in celebration of the brand’s 100th year anniversary ; and last year’s launch of its women’s jewellery collection.
Montblanc Asia Pacific president and chief executive officer Jim Siano: ‘We wanted this to be nothing short of spectacular.’ The question on most minds, though, was why China, specifically Beijing, this time?
“We wanted a site which was worth the event, and China happens to be Montblanc’s biggest market this year. Besides, having the event at the stadium where China won the most medals in the Olympics made it rather apt,” Montblanc International chief executive officer Lutz Bethge discloses.
What’s interesting is that China had leaped from Montblanc’s No.3 biggest market to top spot in just one year. This despite the country being some 10 years younger than all of Montblanc’s other markets in the world.
The phenomenon is reflective of the current trend in the region.
“The development of Asia and the affinity of Asians to luxury have a part to play in this,” says Montblanc Asia Pacific president and chief executive officer Jim Siano. “Most Asians want to buy European products because they’re European; they don’t want to buy a European product that tries to be Asian.”
All Montblanc events over the past few years have been lavish, but some considered this the brand’s best event yet.
The concept of the entire evening was based on time. Thus, the Journey Room – the beginning of more exciting things to come – was transformed into a time-travel capsule of sorts, bringing together legendary individuals in the history of timekeeping such as da Vinci, Alexander the Great and King Louis XIV.
From the sundial of ancient Egypt to the Chinese water clock invented by Su Song of the Song Dynasty and Louis XIV’s mechanical clock, guests were presented a glimpse of the ideologies and art of timekeeping against a most dramatic backdrop of Michaelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel.
Alexander the Great with his horse and two foot soldiers were part of the Journey Room exhibit. The spectacular setting was inspired by the idea of creating a cathedral of time which reflected Montblanc’s cultural roots; art from the Renaissance period was deemed the most appropriate representation.
It took a daily battalion of 60 workers and painters from Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Tinjian and Beijing over three months to prepare for the event, and some 300 people working over 250 hours to eventually set up the stadium. No expense was spared.
“Too much was spent!” chuckles Siano. “Our production budget, not including bringing in people from overseas, was about RMB42mil (RM21.8mil). It’s a huge production.”
But was such extravagance necessary?
“We wanted to do something significant because we had high expectations for the launch party and the production, which is why we started working on A Journey Through Time in November 2007. We wanted this to be nothing short of spectacular,” says Siano.
The climax of the evening turned out to be a magnificent rock opera originally scored for the night. From the Journey Room, we were led to a vast auditorium featuring two island bars, a grand stage, two additional side stages and some 15 giant screens flashing the Montblanc star.
The branding was ostentatious: from the containers that contained canapés to the shot glasses served by 500 waiters and waitresses dressed in black trench coats, everything was embossed with the Montblanc emblem.
Guests were shown around an exhibition charting various milestones in timekeeping which included the contributions of Leonardo da Vinci (left) and Su Song with his water clock (right) – all housed within an entire arena painted with Renaissance artwork. And as food and drink flowed freely, guests were treated to Soulmaker, the custom-scored rock opera which characterised Montblanc’s contribution to timekeeping with the birth of its first calibre watch while paying tribute to Nicholas Rieussec, the founder of the chronograph movement.
Inspired by Montblanc’s strong connection with the arts, Soulmaker combined classic elements with rock music.
Replicating the detailed interior designs of the Rieussec watch and the location of the Montblanc factory in Le Locle, Switzerland, the stage took the audience through history with rock musicians and more than 50 actors, dancers, musicians and singers from all over the world, including rock star MiG Ayesa in the lead role, and state-of-the-art projections on all 15 screens.
“Beijing is the seat of rock and roll for China and because Montblanc has had a connection with arts and culture, holding a rock opera makes sense,” Siano muses.
An aerial artiste reaching for the stars during the Montblanc launch. “The storyline is unique. It’s part fantasy, yet based on reality particularly in the elements about the brand, such as craftsmanship and the soul of Montblanc’s products.”
The opera begins with the creation of the universe. A giant meteor that hits the Earth creates a land mass and mountains, in particular, the Mont Blanc peak. At the base of the mountain is the factory of Nicholas Rieussec, founder of the chronograph movement in 1821, who dreamt of building a great timepiece that would represent the soul of the people. Rieussec and his lover travel to the magical depths of Mont Blanc where they find the one true “soul”, the Montblanc diamond.
On their way back, they battle the mountain’s guardians Fire, Ice and Wind which try to prevent the diamond from being taken away. But hero and heroine prevail and the opera ends with the birth of the timepiece.
The Martin Ross Orchestra came on immediately after playing familiar rock tunes to the foot-tapping delight of the crowd late into the night.
Interactive artistes, including body-painted girls, grinders, aerial bungee stilt artists and acrobats, added more colour to the night.
As midnight approached, the crowd began to thin although many lingered. The stage was still frenetic, with dancers from the rock opera performing energetic numbers to the delight of the remaining party animals.
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