Baume & Mercier

Baume & Mercier is a Swiss watch manufacturer, currently one of the Specialist Watchmakers of Richemont.

History

1918, under the leadership of William Baume, the merger of the company "Frères Baume" with the Geneva watchmaker Paul Mercier, son of a tsarist officer,was performed. Since 1921 the name of the company is Baume & Mercier, Fabrication Genève. In 1945 the watch manufacturing was moved to La Côte-aux-Fées. After the acquisition of the shareholding majority by Piaget in 1965, the production was partially shifted to the United States. About three years later Baume & Mercier brought the, at this time, slimmest self-winding wristwatch with date display on the market. From 1970 Baume & Mercier began to increasingly resort to tuning fork and quartz watches.

Since 1988 the company is 60% owned by Cartier and now belongs, like Cartier, to the Richemont Group. The current model range is characterized by stylish, elegant watch ranges. The best known was the watch classic Riviera with its 12-cornered bezel. Another successful model is the rectangular watch Hampton.

In 2017, Baume & Mercier introduced Clifton Manual 1830, becoming the first Richemont company to sell a silicon balance spring. Their next technical innovation came in 2018, with the Clifton Baumatic. This in-house automatic movement, Cal. BM12-1975M, features the same silicon "Twinspir" balance spring as well as a silicon escape wheel and lever contributing to a 5-day power reserve.

Address

Baume & Mercier, Branch of Richemont International S.A.
50, chemin de la Chênaie
CH–1293 Bellevue, Geneva

Tel. +41 022 / 999 51 51
Fax +41 022 / 999 50 50

Weblinks

• Baume & Mercier
• Baume & Mercier Riviera (ZEITGEFÜHL)