Montblanc’s luxury smartwatch, the Summit, has been on sale since May. So we sat down with executive vice president Jens Henning Koch to find out a bit more about it. Where does it stand next to the TAG Heuer Connected" Why doesn’t it have GPS or NFC" And what happened to the E-Strap"
By Chris Hall

Roughly 18 months after Switzerland had a collective panic about the threat posed by smartwatches – with plenty of doom-mongering about the impact they could have on entry-level mechanical brands – we find ourselves in a world where smartwatches and traditional watches are learning to live happily side-by-side. Notwithstanding that the full impact of the smartwatch might not be felt for years yet, it seems like the peril was overplayed somewhat.  We have had the TAG Heuer Connected and Frederique Constant Horological Smartwatch for some time now – the former got a major upgrade in March, just before the launch of the Montblanc Summit. It’s the start of a generation of luxury smartwatches, and each has a very different approach to the new market. We spoke to Montblanc’s Jens Henning Koch about where the Summit fits into the smart landscape, and came away with eight key insights.
1. Watch brands are learning to move quickly.
While conceding that the first lesson was “don’t try to be a tech company”, Henning Koch explained that the Summit was conceived and developed in about nine months – much qui...