Baume and Mercier is the creation of two friends, William Baume with Paul Mercier, a watch maker, in 1918 and headquartered in Geneva. The Baume family has been in the watch making business since 1542. Then in 1834 the descendents of Baume registered “Societe Baume Freres” to manufacture tables and pocket watches for export.
The company has been known to produce fashionable watches with great technological advancements. They even have a rare award known as the Poincon de Geneve which gave the company the right to indicate the Geneva hallmark.
They have also won many distinctive commendations like their octagon-shaped watch line that won a Golden Rose prize at an international exhibition in 1973. However, their fortunes and fame died out due to succession problems. In the mid-1980s, the company formed alliance with Piaget Watch Company.
They created a separate entity called Vendome Luxury Group in 1988. This holding company, thereafter, helped established the Baume and Mercier brand to flourish again by pumping in technical expertise. It was then that the brand started a range of extremely flat automatic watches.
Some of the most famous watches produced were the Linea, Hampton, and the Capeland. The Hampton Spirit helps to give Baume et Mercier a retro feel with a dial shaped like a 1970s horizontally elongated TV screen. Its thick and bold edges provided the watch its masculinity for all men.
This range of Hampton Spirit is COSC-certified chronometers with an automatic movement of 24 hours power reserve. Most importantly the production is only up to 172 pieces. A wonderful limited edition mens watch to have.
Other Hampton collections:
Hampton City Chronograph XL
Hampton City Automatic
Hampton Milleis Large
Another popular range is the Riveria series. This line of watch has a unique 12-sided steel case. It is based on the use of large tuning fork system. Throughout the 1970s, it created several automatic models, quartz, as well as diver’s models and World Timer.
By the 1990s, the company has established a wide range of choices from mechanical movements, quartz movements, chronographs, and a quartz Complication. The Riveria series took large portion of the firm’s revenue, up to 35% in 1994.
For Baume and Mercier mens watches, I am particularly attracted to the Capeland S Titanium range. It is an automatic watch with chronograph function with titanium case and steel bracelet. It has also a water resistance of 200 meters with an individually numbered caseback.
It has an interesting dark gray dial and anthracite counters. Its hands and baton markers are all luminescent. With a combination of titanium and steel for its bracelet, we can definitely be assured of its durability.
Other Capeland collections:
Capeland S XXL 1000m Diving Watch
Capeland Chronograph Automatic with Tachnometer
Capeland Power Reserve
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