Montblanc Summit 2 Review: This $995 Smartwatch Misses A Few Ticks
The Montblanc Summit 2 is my favorite smartwatch hardware of 2018. With a meaty casing forged from stainless steel or titanium, a beautiful display overlaid with sapphire and the smoothest rotating crown on Wear OS, it’s a joy to use. It’s also one of the first smartwatches running on Qualcomm’s new platform for wearables, the Snapdragon 3100. Most impressive of all: its Timeshifter app helped me avoid jetlag on a trip halfway around the world!
The trouble is, with a starting price of nearly $1000, every one of the Summit 2’s shortfalls is magnified a thousandfold. So when the battery life doesn’t live up to the promise of that new 3100 platform, and topping it up is a chore thanks to the most frustrating charging cradle I’ve used in years … well, that stuff stands out a lot more than it would on a smartwatch costing a quarter the price.
Still think it might be worth the coin, even if only for the Montblanc name? Dive in to the video above for MrMobile’s full Montblanc Summit 2 review!
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MrMobile’s Montblanc Summit 2 Review was produced following two weeks with a Montblanc Summit 2 review device provided by Qualcomm. The smartwatch was tested with a BlackBerry KEY2. Off-the-record discussions with two other reviewers at other publications helped confirm battery life and performance notes.
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Hands down the prettiest smart watch on the market. Damn other makers could learn a thing or two.
So I just got my hands a couple of days back and decided to revisit this review.
Now this is my second smartwatch. The first was a Casio wsd f10 which I haven't used in a while. Now charging that was a pain…. This was OK but it's now fantastic as I swapped out the leather strap deployant clasp with a rubber strap with regular buckle. The watch sits flat on the table and I can't even slide the charging dock.
I love smartwatches. They honestly make my life a lot easier with notifications, quick replies, and being able to get some info at a glance while I'm using my phone or if it's impolite to check my phone. The only reason I stopped using my WSD was because it's really tough explaining to clients or trade partners why I'm using a Casio when I'm in the luxury watch industry ?
I'm also a bit of a geek so I did consider both the original summit and the two tag connected. Aesthetically, none of them floated my boat so I stuck to my mechanical Rolexes, APs and PPs.
When the summit 2 was announced it was love at first sight. Finally a timeless looking smartwatch with the right dimensions from a luxury brand! In fact I had a client step in right while I was trying it and thought it was a PP Calatrava. My wife thought I bought a new IWC ?
I also do love my luxury mechanical watches and this comes close in feel. It should be heavier and the two buttons should have a slightly better click but it's really close.
It may not have the same level of branding as my mechanical watches, but it has a little of the heritage, a lot of the feel, luxury watch level finishing, and honestly it's really cheap in comparison.
Additionally, if you compare the depreciation on a new (more expensive) mechanical watch at the same branding level, there's not much of a difference. Or if you compare it to other watches around the same price range, you'll be looking at brands that aren't synonymous with luxury, so the box IMHO is a good trade off.
To end of this extremely long comment ?, I think the summit 2 (like the two tag connected watches, as well as its predecessor) caters to a very niche market. Basically it bridges the utility of a smartwatch with the feel, finishing, classic looks, branding and/or heritage of a luxury watch.
I love it and it will become my daily, while my more expensive pieces haveall been sent in for polishing will be used only for special occasions.
Funny watch….. hahahaha
Nice review, as always
suprised to see an android smartwatch controlled with a crown.. I thought Apple has a patent on it so thatâs why no other smartwatch did this.. genuinely suprised to see… the implementation looks great on android thiugh..
Why oh why is it soo god damn chunky! Shame because they got the size of 42mm just right! Especially more frustrating considering the fossil sports is $250 smartwatch and the width is just 12mm!
Woah the shot with the stabilized second hand in the intro and outro??
I fully agree with your analysis : the hardware (Qualcom) and the software (Wear OS) of this watch are very good choice. The lifetime of the battery is unfortunately limited because it is more or less directly in relation with the watch thickness and because this watch has a "reasonable" size if you use the smart features of the watch you need to charge it each night. But the price is high. You pay for "Montblanc" name and probably for the quality of the smartwatch design. Finally it is a beautiful and expense smartwatch. Many thanks for your very good video.
Apple is king in smart watch
Itâs my 5th day wearing it. Switched from an Apple Watch 4gen and I instantly miss the complete integration having all apple products. 100% the only reason I havenât returned the summit 2 is because of looks. But the review is on point. I still havenât figured out how to reply to a text message from the phone yet. Itâs not the best os experience. Iâll give it another week or two before I completely make my mind.
Beautiful watch! Does it have speakers to play podcasts out loud?
Wow thatâs sharper than the XR
Me using AllCall W1 the best budget smartwatch
As long as WearOS has such an aweful performance, noone will buy a smartwatch for a grand.
Great review as usual, however I wish you have given more attention to its sport tracking abilities, I know this is not its target audience, but I do see that there's a heart-rate sensor in the back, isn't it? I wouldn't go to the gym with this on my wrist, but I don't mind having the option, on the off chance I forget my fitbit with this on my wrist.
Under 500 in comments section…??
Micro-USB, in 2018, for ~1000$? ????
Can it game?
Whilst I wait for the Ticwatch C2, would be good to see a review if you get your hands on one. Cheers
This bezel ist big, same mistake as in every Fossil. A dealbreaker to me.
love your videos that you make! Great job!!! You are one of/ or the best tech reviewer on Youtube!
more like monte plonk
I like mechanical watches, I think having a smart watch when I already have a smartphone in my pocket that do the same job better on a bigger screen is redundant. The watch industry is a business because of that I support Swiss and Japanese mechanical watch companies that are making smat watches for the gadget loving customers.
If you have 1000 bucks to spend behind a watch, buy a real automatic watch please, do yourself a favour and stop paying more than 50-100 bucks for these toys.
I have tilt to wake turned off for now, to see how well I can get the battery life. But I notice sometimes tap to wake doesn't work 100% of the time. Sometimes have to tap it another time to wake up. Anyone else with this problem? Otherwise I'll go back to Montblanc.
mr mobile u are the reviewer of the consumers. never selling out.
More videos, cocksucker
Galaxy watch>
Fossil sport review please?
Mr. Mobile definitely does not miss leg day. Geez! 3:22 … squat goals …
Great vid!!!
Laughable
I think Kronaby strikes the perfect balance for a connected watch.
Can you review the Embr Wave? That's a really odd wearable tech piece that has almost no third party reviews that I can find.
Worth $50 in 5 years. Spend your $1,000 on a real luxury watch.