Travel and watch brand Montblanc has introduced the first luxury smartwatch with a 4G LTE connection, the Summit 2 Plus, enabling the device to make and receive calls. It does this with the help of an eSIM inside, which can be set up to share the same telephone number as your phone. While other smartwatches have been able to do this for a while — the functionality comes in everything from the Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro 4G LTE to the Apple Watch — this is the first time we’re seeing the feature from a well-known watch brand.
Montblanc’s horological heritage is important here. The beautiful oversized crown is a staple of its mechanical watches, and marks the Summit 2 LTE out as a Montblanc watch to those in the know. It’s great to see that while it comes in black, steel, and rose-gold finishes, there’s also a stunning PVD-coated bronze steel version. Bronze has been a popular trend in traditional watches for a while, and is also offered on the standard Summit 2 smartwatch.
Over the screen is a piece of curved sapphire crystal to keep the smartwatch free from scratches, plus Montblanc has installed its own collection of watch faces influenced by some of its best loved mechanical dials, making it look just right. Just like TAG Heuer, Montblanc puts considerable effort into making the smartwatch look and feel like its traditional watches.
The Summit 2 Plus and Summit 2 share more than just the bronze steel finish. Both operate with the Qualcomm 3100 Wear platform and 1GB of RAM, and come with Google’s WearOS, a heart rate monitor, 8GB of storage, and GPS. However, there are some subtle differences elsewhere, likely necessary due to the eSIM hardware fitted inside the case. In fact, both the screen and the case itself are slightly larger here. The Summit 2 Plus has a 1.28-inch AMOLED screen inside a 43.5mm case, compared to the 1.2-inch, 42mm Summit 2. The battery capacity has been increased to 440mAh, but don’t expect much additional life from it, as it has to drive the eSIM connection.
You will pay a little more for the Summit 2 Plus over the non-LTE model. It will cost from $1,170, up from $995, depending on which finish you choose. Remember you will also have to pay your carrier an additional amount to use the smartwatch’s LTE connection. The Summit 2 Plus will be available from April with Verizon in the U.S., and with Orange and Vodafone in Europe and the U.K.
