Why Montblanc's new smartwatch matters

New York

LAST week, Montblanc became the first brand in the Richemont family of luxury companies to put out a smartwatch. The Montblanc Summit, based on Google's Android Wear 2 platform, aims to compete with, among others, the Apple Watch and rival Swiss brand TAG Heuer's Connected Watch (which was released last year and will get an upgrade likely to be announced this week).

Like the TAG, which is also on the Android platform, the Montblanc watch is targeted at fans of the brand.

By designing the case to look like a classic mechan…