I have two montblanc's in my collection, both were gifts from my wife and as such I like them, I have owned many more but sold them all nearly as soon as I bought them as I was always underwhelmed...even with the 50%+ discounts I usually got I had the feeling I was ripped off, paying way too much for the name and the hype and not enough for the pen itself.
Parker, Pelikan, Aurora, Omas, Namiki, Waterman all make far nicer pens than the standard Montblahs and they are all much better priced. I have yet to own a Montblanc fountain that writes "well" they are all scratchy and have poor flow, meanwhile every other fountain I have including my $11 waterman phileas writes smooth as silk.
Their limited editions look pretty, but are priced into the stratosphere and just not "writing" pens...
I have the same reaction to Rolex watches, owned three of them and always felt as if I was a sucker, paying far far too much money for marketing and not much else..not to mention the quality of them was really poor, two of them had what I consider manufacturing defects in the materials, and on the first one when I sent it in to be fixed they took a near pristine piece and ruined it, the second one they wouldn't even touch as they said the flaws were normal due to hand finish...they make 800,000 watches a year, the only thing hand finished there is the sales reciept..The company is rude, arrogant, and cares nothing for their enthusiasts...they only service watches for 30 years out of production and they keep jacking prices year after year...
trying to sell my last one and buy an Omega as I feel they are a far better watch for a considerable savings...
I equate both companies (Rolex and Montblanc) with Bose...marketing and public perception greatly influences price when there products really aren't that good when compared to enthusiast brands.