On Day One of the 2014 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva, the WatchTime team saw some watches up close and personal that we’d already seen as previews — and then, there were a few surprises. One of those was from “affordable luxury” watch brand Baume & Mercier, which broke with tradition with the introduction of its first tourbillon watch, the Baume & Mercier Clifton 1892 Flying Tourbillon.
In introducing the tourbillon watch, which commemorates one full year since the introduction of the Clifton collection at last year’s SIHH, Baume & Mercier CEO Alain Zimmerman referred to it as akin to a “concept car” — something to “push the boundaries” of Baume & Mercier’s watchmaking cred while still allowing the brand to retain its status as the watch brand with the lowest across-the-board retail prices at the luxury-laden SIHH.
The watch’s inspiration, Zimmerman said, was a tourbillon pocketwatch created by Baume & Mercier in 1892 (hence the name; Baume & Mercier has been making watches since 1830) that won an observatory prize for its historic precision.
The tourbillon movement — which incorporates features including a detent escapement and a blued steel balance spring — was made by Valfleurier; the cage of the flying tourbillon is placed at the 9 o’clock position. In homage to that of its pocketwatch predecessor, the movement in the Baume & Mercier Clifton 1892 Flying Tourbillon is built for timekeeping precision, with a frequency of 28,800 vph.
The new Baume & Mercier tourbillon comes in a rose-gold case with a diameter of 45.5 mm. And this “concept car” watch is most definitely not a “concept,” per se, meaning that it will be available at retail, albeit in a limited edition of only 30 pieces (an homage to the founding year of 1830, I assume). The price will be a relatively modest (for a tourbillon) $59,000 — definitely in the realm of “affordable luxury” for some.
Click here for our pre-SIHH report on another new SIHH model from Baume & Mercier, the Clifton Chronograph.
