The Beauty of a Second Summary.Montblanc created a chronograph as a homage to the man who invented it 190 years ago: Nicolas Rieussec. But how could we get people to pay attention to the Rieussec chronograph, its anniversary and build awareness for a brand mostly known for its writing instruments? The simple idea was to ask people to create a 1-second-long video that celebrates the fragile beauty of this small unit of time.Teaming up with film-director Wim Wenders we challenged people to 'seize the moment' and capture beauty in a second long video,creating the shortest short-film challenge ever. People competed online at montblanc-onesecond.com. Online, users could also paste and edit the second-long videos of their choice using a dedicated application containing different music scores. The best 1-second video and 1-minute playlist (like the dials on a chronograph) were both selected by Wim Wenders and awardeda Montblanc chrono.

People competed online on montblanc-onesecond.com by uploading their 1-second videos. The compilations of the best 1-second videos were also posted on Vimeo, leveraging the artistic approach of the video community to increase participation. The videos were selected by Vimeo for the front page, and became branded content in blogs, news-sites and channels generating a virtuous circle of views and submissions. We got thousands of Facebook 'shares', tweets and blogposts. Due to the success of the competition we extended the competition to 4 rounds. People inspired by the idea even started to make their own personal Beauty of a Second videos.

After hundreds of requests we released the official soundtrack of the competition on iTunes. Vimeo also featured the project at South by Southwest. The Montblanc stand at Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva was built around the concept.

5.The result- The first compilation posted to vimeo received 1m views in 10 days.- 3,000% increase in submissions from the first to the third round.

- The competition was featured in GQ, Vanity Fair, New York Times, Forbes,Huffington Post, ESPN, The Independent, Boing Boing and many more.4436 videos were submitted, with an estimated total of 4,000,000 video views (submission views on site and off site) and an estimated 40,000,000 media impressions (including video loads, headline loads, and ambient media). 1,400,000 video views via Vimeo.

- 45% increase in brand followers on Facebook.We built invaluable awareness for Montblanc as a watchmaker.

We also proved that a classic luxury brand can find its place in the digital era.