Question: When are two names better than one? Answer: If yours happens to be John Deere, Walt Disney or Ralph Lauren, you’re in good company and will be remembered forever. If not, well, time will tell.
And speaking of time, there are even a few watch brands that have standout two-piece names. Think Patek Philippe or Ademars Piguet. But there are a few others that commonly slide underneath the radar screen yet are well known to enthusiasts. One of those is Jaeger-LeCoultre and another is Baume & Mercier. Both are premium brands with the names of their founders inextricably linked for all time. Let’s look at JLC down the road but today focus our laser beam on Baume & Mercier. It’s a worthy target.
While Baume & Mercier can trace its roots back to 1830, it wasn’t for another 90 years that the B&M name was adopted. The firm’s first iteration was as Frere Baume (“Baume Brothers”) and was established by siblings Celestin and Luis-Victor in a little town in west central Switzerland. They soon gained adherents and after a decade opened a branch office in London. At the time, England was a military powerhouse and much interested in timekeeping insofar as it allowed for greater precision in maneuvering. Also helpful was the fact that the British Empire was worldwide, allowing for testing and exposure of its techniques and instrumentation in many different locales. Thus did the Royal Navy provide early if inadvertent help in making B&M a global brand.
As they worked to build their international reputation, Baume & Mercier did not neglect innovation. Their Lepine caliber movement introduced in 1851 represented a significant improvement in the state of the art and was widely adopted by others in the industry. Later that century, the firm was a multi-gold medal winner at the prestigious Kew Observatory competition in England, among the most rigorous horological contests of the era. Further triumphs followed at world’s fairs in Geneva, London and Paris.
Then in 1918, William Mercier entered the picture, teaming up with Baume family watchmakers. Mercier was a well-connected socialite and entrepreneur, and he brought a design and marketing sensibility to the firm that proved enormously helpful. Further new models were introduced and the accolades continued to accumulate. During the midcentury era, jewel-encrusted watches drew women to the line, and the Galaxie, Riviera and Stardust timepieces became category touchstones. In 1964, the company was acquired by Piaget, beginning a dizzying series of ownership changes that wound up with the Richemont Group’s assembly of a stable of high-end watchmakers. Today, B&M serves as something of an entry point to sister brands that include the likes of Vacheron Constantin, IWC and Panerai.
With that said, Baume & Mercier is hardly a promotional line but a genuine premium watchmaker. Its new TwinSpir manual movement introduced in 2017 is so complicated as to almost defy description but its 90-hour power reserve eliminates the need for daily winding. One year later, even that was improved to the point of a 120-hour power reserve and an accuracy level of plus or minus six seconds per day, putting it well within the boundaries of chronometer certification. Thus, there’s something for everyone in B&M watches, from the old-school precision and ultra-thin beauty of their Piaget days to the modern capabilities of their state-of-the-art movements. And if your buying decisions lean towards features-per-dollar, you can’t do much better.
Mike Rivkin and his wife, Linda, are long-time residents of Rancho Mirage. For many years, he was an award-winning catalogue publisher and has authored seven books, along with countless articles. Now, he’s the owner of Antique Galleries of Palm Springs. His antiques column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Want to send Mike a question about antiques? Drop him a line at info@silverfishpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Baume & Mercier are names to remember when shopping for watches
Reporting by Mike Rivkin / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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