Among the big news coming out of this year’s SIHH watch fair was Baume & Mercier’s launch of an entirely new men’s collection, the Clifton, inspired by a 1950s model from the brand’s extensive archives. The collection consists of the Automatic, a three-hand model with small seconds; the Clifton 1830, a gold version directly influenced by the 1950s original; and one that particularly caught my eye, the Complete Calendar with moon-phase display, here with a sunray satin-finished blue dial.
The Clifton Complete Calendar displays the date (via a center-mounted pointer and 31-day scale around the dial’s periphery), day and month (via two small windows directly above the hour and minute hands) and moon-phase (in a large aperture at 6 o’clock).
The movement is an automatic Dubois-Dépraz 9000, decorated with circular graining on the bridges and a snailed côtes de Genève motif on the rotor. It provides the watch a power reserve of 42 hours.
The case is 43 mm in diameter — a bit larger than the Automatics, at 39 and 41 mm, and the 1830, at 42 mm —and made of stainless steel, with both polished and satin-finished surfaces. There are scratch-resistant sapphire crystals in the front and back of the case, allowing for a nice view of the decorated movement. The watch comes on a black alligator strap, which has a triple-folding clasp with security push-pieces. The price of the watch is a relatively reasonable $4,500. (Click on photos for larger images; more info on the watch is below.)
Technical characteristics:
Movement: Dubois Depraz 9000, automatic; frequency = 4 hz; 25 jewels; 42-hour power reserve; rotor engraved with snailed côtes de Genève; circular-grained bridges, black and rhodium-plated screws
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, month, moon-phase
Case and strap: Polished and satin-finished stainless steel case, diameter = 43 mm; thickness = 12.25 mm; water-resistant to 50 meters; anti-glare scratch-resistant sapphire crystal; sapphire exhibition caseback secured by four screws; on black alligator strap with square scales; triple-folding clasp with security push-pieces
Dial and hands: Sun satin-finished blue dial (also available with silver-colored dial); Arabic numerals and indices; center-mounted date indicator hand
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