Introducing – The Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar
Baume & Mercier is adding some new interesting Baumatic powered watches to their Clifton collection, and we will cover them all. However, we’d like to start with the boldest of them first (although there’s also a red gold three-hander): the red gold Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar. It is one of the most interesting complications to us, besides a chronograph (we don’t care much about tourbillons, to be honest, Baume & Mercier actually did one in 2014 for their Clifton collection).
Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar
We don’t have to explain what a perpetual calendar is to you I am sure, but for those who are new to the world of mechanical watches; it is a complication that will keep you from correcting the date on the first of the month when there was no 31st day (or in case of February, the remaining days after the 28th or 29th). Baume & Mercier’s perpetual calendar is mechanically ‘programmed’ to display the correct date until March 2100. Let’s have a quick look at the new Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar.
Baumatic BM13-1975AC-1 Movement
For this Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar, Baume & Mercier used their caliber BM13 as starting point. This is the movement you will also find in the new three-hand models. It has a five-day power reserve, which is quite a lot, compared to many other movements out there. Then, which we will talk about to Baume & Mercier in the next coming days, this movement only needs a service interval every seven years. Interesting, as most brands still use 3 years or 5 years as a guide for this. We are also interesting to learn what a maintenance service for a Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar will cost the owner every seven years. People tend to forget about the running costs of a watch, which can be quite dramatic for certain brands and their owners. According to Baume & Mercier’s press release on this new Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar, the movement is also resistant to magnetic fields. Not all of course (don’t try it in MRI equipment), but at least to the magnetic fields of daily life. Think iPad covers, microwave ovens, computers, airport security ports, magnetic clips of bags etc. Anyway, on top of the base caliber (BM13), there’s this Dubois-Dépraz 55102 module for the perpetual calendar functions (including a moon phases indicator).
As you can see above, the bridges have a beautiful finish (circular-grain) and a snailed plate. The rotor is partly open-worked, to be able to reveal a bit more of the movement, and retaining enough mass to do its job. On the rotor you will find a Côte de Genève finish and some snailing. The movement uses 21 jewels and ticks at 28,800vph. It has a total thickness of 5.85mm (about half of the total thickness of the watch).
Functions
The Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar has a beautiful white dial that indicates the following functions: hours, minutes and seconds. The sub dial at 9 o’clock indicates the days of the week, using a blue hand. Across the dial, at 3 o’clock, there’s the date, again indicated with a blue hand. At 6 o’clock, a beautiful moon phase indicator, using a gold moon (and stars) on a midnight blue disc. On top, at 12 o’clock, there are actually two indicators. One of for the month of the year, and a leap-year indicator. The time functions are all indicated with gold coloured hands, the calendar functions with blue hands. It is all black on white printing, and there are gold applied hour indices. I am happy to see that the printing of the model name ‘Baumatic’ shrunk a bit in size, compared to the regular Clifton Baumatic models.
Red Gold
I am a sucker for gold these days, as I wrote here, and I was immediately drawn to this red gold Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar (and their regular Baumatic in red gold). It just looks good on a formal watch like this. I say formal, but I am pretty sure you can wear this every day of the week if you want to. The dimensions of this watch help a bit as well, of course, no crazy huge block of gold, but still a 42mm wearer. Not for everyone for sure, but nor does it have to be of course. It is 12.1mm thick, of which almost half is needed for the complicated self-winding movement. On both sides, there’s a sapphire crystal installed. The case has polished surfaces as well as brushed surfaces (like the case band). The crown (signed) is a bit recessed, which adds to the comfort level of the Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar on your wrist. The watch comes on an alligator strap with slightly curved ends, so it almost touches the case between the lugs. Of course, the pin buckled is also made of 18-carat red gold.
At the time of writing this article, the price on this Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar reference M0A10470 is unknown yet. Once it is out, we will update this article accordingly.
More information about Baume & Mercier and their new SIHH collection here.
