In 2015 throughout the year Baume & Mercier celebrated its 185th anniversary with great new timepieces, in the Clifton, Classima or the Promesse collection.
Clifton 1830 Five-minute Repeater Pocket Watch
The cherry on top of the birthday cake was presented at Watches and Wonders and it was intended to honor the watchmaking expertise and history of the brand. The Clifton 1830 Five-minute Repeater Pocket Watch is inspired by the company’s museum collection, which includes 19th century pocket watch treasures. The anniversary piece has a 50mm red gold case and an opaline silver-colored domed dial that features Arabic numerals and 18K red gold riveted markers. One of my favourites from the recent collection is the Clifton 8-Day Power Reserve, a pocket watch, that has a very similar aesthetic.
The case-back is sapphire-crystal in order reveal the chiming five-minute repeater movement, which incorporates a Dubois Dépraz module called D73. The chime sounds a low note on the hour, and a pair of low and high tones for each elapsed period of five minutes. The mechanism is activated by a longish button at 4 o’clock. Naturally, the appearance of the calibre follows the “haute-horlogerie” standards; customized bridges and plates, unique end finishes, circular-graining on the plate, bridges with circular “Côtes de Genève” decor and blue steel screws.
Promesse Jade
This watch has strong ties to Asian culture and Asian women. Its main motif is the jade bezel, decorated with 61 Top Wessellton diamonds (altogether 0.65 ct) on the steel case. On the silver-colored dial the decoration is a draped guilloché motif. The elegant and feminine composition is completed with a glossy white alligator strap.
Jade is a gemstone, and a generic term for two different gems, nephrite and jadeite, made up of different silicate minerals. Jadeite has about the same hardness as quartz (between 6.0 and 7.0 Mohs hardness).
It has been known for some 7000 years; in around 3000 B.C. jade was called in China as ‘yu’, or the ‘royal gem’. Many cultures use and respect this stone, but in China it was used not only for the finest objects and jewels, but also in the grave furnishings for high-ranking members of the imperial family. Because jade stands for beauty, grace and purity, it has been used in many Chinese idioms and phrases to denote beautiful things or people. And as a Chinese proverb goes, “Gold has a value; jade is invaluable.”
It embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage.
Baume & Mercier decided to include this gemstone in its latest model, creating a lucky charm for eight lucky ladies. The Promesse Jade is limited to 8 pieces (a number which also has a great significance in Chinse culture, as the numbers 0, 6, 8, and 9 are believed to have advantageous meanings because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings; 8 stands for luck, fortune or success, and the symbol matches the mathematical symbol of infinity.)
Classima
We recently wrote about the brand new models in the Classima collection. And to ensure the emotions linked to this watch are remembered forever, the case back can be engraved with a personal message.
Photo credits: Baume & Mercier, Loupiosity.com.
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