If 2008 was a vital exercise for Montblanc in establishing the brand's credibility in the Fine Watch segment, the coming twelve months will be devoted to confirming its status with new and exceptional models. In five short years, the brand has already imposed its style with the Rieussec and Villeret ranges.

With economic crisis at its door, and consumption on the way down, paradoxically Spain is still a promised land for Fine Watch brands.

What can still be said about the flow of time? Are there any theories left to invent? For centuries, the world's most ingenious horologists have explored a multitude of ways to measure time, calling on technical intricacies, scientific audacity and innovative concepts. A plethora of philosophers, writers and epistemologists have pondered the question, often beating their head against a utopian brick wall. After all, mankind's utopia has always been to conquer time and space.

Counterfeiting hits hardest in three markets: brands, pre-owned and collectors. Spurred on by the current infatuation with watches, itself fuelled by the media and by brands' all-out marketing campaigns, more and more people, from enlightened amateurs to recent converts, are turning to collecting. Meanwhile, the century's biggest communications channel, the Internet, has taken this interest in vintage watches to just about the four corners of the globe.

Chinese architecture and ancient relics, but famous historical figures and symbols are inspirations for the designs of western watches.

Giulio Papi likes to remind us that horology is first and foremost about instruments whose purpose is to give the time with increasing accuracy.