St. Moritz is a resort like no other and has come to symbolize all that a Swiss destination should be: sophisticated and proper, exclusive yet welcoming. To capture the spirit of St. Moritz, Montegrappa, Italy’s most respected producer of fine writing tools has created a series of luxurious, handcrafted, fountain pens.
The fountain pens and roller balls are appropriate representations of both the village itself and its surrounding atmosphere. For 2012, four new, highly collectible pens have been introduced.
It is fitting that the representation of the village to be a pen, a tool an artist might use, and an object of art embellished with visual representations of St. Moritz itself.
The 2012 St. Moritz Limited Edition comprises 300 fountain pens and 300 rollerballs with sterling silver trim and a special limited edition of eight fountain pens and eight roller balls with solid 18K gold trim per design. Each Montegrappa St. Moritz pen will serve as a permanent reminder intended to evoke Switzerland’s jewel of a resort every time it touches paper.
Located in the Engadin valley, St. Moritz first attracted visitors and functioned as a proper resort in 1864 when hotelier Johannes Badrutt made a bet that would echo forever throughout Switzerland. His wager with four British summer-season visitors offered that should they return in winter and not find it as pleasurable a vacation as their warm weather break, he would pay the cost of their round-trip.
For the guests, it was a win-win situation and Badrutt also offered to pay for their visit, allowing them to stay as long as they wished if they did not find St. Moritz as attractive in winter.
This example of courteous gamesmanship not only established St. Moritz as a ski resort, but also launched the Alps on the whole as a location for vacationing skiers.
Since then, St. Moritz held the first European Ice-Skating Championships in 1882, the first golf tournament held in the Alps in 1889, a horse race on snow in 1906 and the opening of Switzerland’s first ski school in 1929. It has also hosted the Winter Olympics twice – in 1928 and 1948 – as well as over 30 Bobsled World Championships, four Alpine Ski World Championships and 40 Engadin Ski Marathons.
Along with this, Alfred Hitchcock has used the resort for the opening scenes of The Man Who Knew Too Much, while it was cited exactly 30 years later in the James Bond film Goldfinger and referred to in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only.
Montegrappa’s new St. Moritz pen collection covers four themes, each represented by period posters of timeless appeal:
• Automobile Week 1929, by Baumberger – encapsulated in the image of sleek red racing car heading towards the mountains at great speed
• Grosses Ski Rennen der Schweiz (Big Swiss Ski Race) 1911, by Kupfer – with a thoughtful skier pondering the race in which he is about to compete
• Tea time by the Engadin lake 1920, by Stiefel – showing the restful aspects of St. Moritz, as an elegant resort
• Woman in a red jacket 1925, by Daester – a reminder of the great Art Deco period during which it was created Since 1912, Montegrappa has been manufacturing high-quality writing instruments in the same historic building in Bassano del Grappa, North East Italy.
For more information: www.montegrappa.com