Baume & Mercier Takes Vintage Elegance Up a Notch in New Clifton Collection

After several years of focusing heavily on its 1970s-inspired Riviera family, Baume & Mercier has taken a step back to the 1950s this year to launch the latest generation of its elegant gentlemen’s dress watch, the Clifton, at the recently wrapped Watches & Wonders Geneva exhibition. The three new references, set to be released in September 2025, all feature slimmed-down cases, reconfigured dials, in-house automatic calibers, and straps with tool-free, easy-change mechanisms.

Baume & Mercier introduced the Clifton in 2013, drawing inspiration for the model from the “Golden Fifties” pieces that the Swiss brand put out during its heyday of the 1950s and ‘60s, a post-Art-Deco era defined by simple round cases, minimalist dials, clean lines, and an overall aesthetic of “discreet luxury.” In 2018, the Clifton became the first timepiece outfitted with Baume & Mercier’s Baumatic movement, a proprietary caliber with a five-day power reserve, antimagnetic protection, and COSC-certified chronometer chops. The brand shortly thereafter began building upon the initial three-handed Clifton Baumatic models to introduce complications, like chronographs, complete calendars, and even a perpetual calendar. 

The new Clifton models are all equipped with the Baumatic Caliber BM13-1975 and softly rounded 39mm cases, two in stainless steel, one in 18k pink gold. The thickness of these cases, which in previous iterations had been as high as 12.6mm, has been reduced to a more sleeve-friendly 11.5mm. The sapphire crystal over the dial is now domed, more in line with the spirit of the mid-20th-century watches that inspired the Clifton, and the cases are water-resistant to 50 meters. 

More prominent are the changes on the dials, which range from off-white in the gold-cased model, to dark, gradient blue and vintage-cool, peach-to-pink salmon in the steel-cased watches, the latter a limited edition of 350 pieces. The Arabic numeral at 12 o’clock, which had been absent since the first Baumatic models, has been reintroduced, joining the array of trapezoidal, faceted indexes at the other hour positions, which have been slightly lengthened. Balancing out the “12” is a date window at 6 o’clock, which has been moved from its previous 3 o’clock position for a more harmonious symmetry. (The numeral font for the date is also new.) Completing the picture are the central Alpha-shaped hands and the centered crosshairs motif, which Baume & Mercier for some reason refers to as a “test pattern.”

An additional sapphire window in the caseback allows a view of the Baumatic Caliber and its impressive array of high-horological decorations, including circular graining on the bridges, a sandblasted, studded texture on the mainplate, and côtes de Genève on the gilded, openworked rotor with a unique Baume & Mercier engraving. And as beautiful as its surface adornments are, the movement’s technical attributes are even more noteworthy, including the aforementioned magnetic resistance, to 1,500 gauss, thanks to the use of a silicon balance spring; and its power reserve of 120 hours, or five days, when fully wound.

The pink-gold Ref. M0A10802 comes on a brown alligator strap with tone-on-tone stitching and a beige underside, with a gold-PVD-coated pin buckle in steel. The steel limited edition with a salmon dial (Ref. M0A10778) is delivered with two strap options, one in black calfskin with tone-on-tone stitching, the other in beige calfskin, both equipped with a triple folding steel clasp. And the steel-cased, blue-dialed Ref. M0A10771, also a part of the regular collection, is matched with a dark blue alligator strap with square scales, a beige underside lining with burgundy contrast stitching, and a triple-folding steel clasp. The new models are available now and priced at $3,450 on a strap and $3,600 on a bracelet.