How to pay tribute to time? How to sanctify the era that marked the beginning of its measurement? For some, the hardest of the questions. The watchmakers of the BAUME & MERCIER manufactory found answers by presenting the WILLIAM BAUME collection in three new models and dedicating them to WILLIAM BOM (1885-1956), the man who in the 1920s made one of the oldest Geneva brands truly modern.
178 years in the history of watchmaking Portraits of Baume & Mercier’s Geneva headquarters contain portraits of its founding fathers, starting with the venerable Louis Victor Bohm, who created the Freres Baume company together with his brother Celestan in 1830. As with all intravital photographs of prominent personalities of the beginning of the last century, his appearance is a little scared, but solemn. Louis-Victor Bohm left a legacy to the watchmakers of the day today with a sonorous surname in the name and the slogan at the entrance to the manufactory: “To produce watches of only the best quality”. Then no one could have imagined that the undertaking of the “Bom Brothers”, which collected the first mechanisms in their village, is the start of almost two hundred years of struggle for a place in the history of watchmaking. I must say, they dealt with the mission assigned to them with honor. Since 1892, they have been absolute record holders of chronometric accuracy for ten years, received awards at the World Exhibitions in Paris, London, Philadelphia and Geneva, changed the status of the brand and changed themselves. Moreover, not only the Bom brothers did this, but also the sons of Bom and the grandchildren of Bom.
William Bohm with comrades
William Bom, after whom the new series is named, is just Bom-grandson. His portrait is already a photograph of a man from another time, whose experience did not end only in the mountain village of watchmakers. He is already reclining in a wooden deck chair, dressed in a snow-white shirt and a vest, from which, it seems, a golden onion clock is about to slip out. He is stately, tall-headed and smiles cheerfully in the frame. It can be seen from all that life was a success and he has something to be proud of. In 1918, a historic meeting took place in Paris - the watchmaker William Bom met the jeweler Paul Mercier and created the current Baume & Mercier brand with him. From the very beginning, Mercier and Bom, Bom and Mercier sought to make it modern, focused on design, and not on watch records. It was important for them that their products were worn on the wrists, and not exhibited in watch museums. So the line is dedicated not only to the 178th anniversary of the brand, but also to the almost 100th anniversary of the famous meeting, combining the talents of Bohm and Mercier.
William Bohm, along with Paul Mercier, drew inspiration during the period that fell between the two world wars. These were the “crazy” years. Watchmaker Bohm and jeweler Mercier managed to combine all the technical and aesthetic innovations of the time in each of their watch models. The evolution and outstanding technological progress of that amazing century can be clearly seen not only in the works of the masters of the Baume & Mercier factory, but also in the first "streamlined" locomotive, presented to the old European court in 1930 and inheriting the features of the first such trains, which first appeared in as much as a hundred years before, in 1830. Just at the time when William Bohm's grandfather opened his watchmaking.
In addition to the widespread use of technological innovations, William Bois and Paul Mercier formulated the brand’s philosophy, which today sounds even more modern than ever: “Creating watches that would carry timeless design and genuine elegance”.
In 1921, thanks to numerous inventions and innovations, the Baume & Mercier manufactory was honored to put the famous “Geneva brand” (“Poincon de Geneve”) on its watches.
Three colors of time
The three main models of the William Baume Collection collection are reminiscent of the "Bohm" watch victories and conquests. Here, for example, there are watches with a tourbillon, and Baume & Mercier have not produced tourbillons since almost before the war. It turns out that in the bowels of the factory managed to keep the secrets of skill! The William Baume Tourbillon model is a large men's watch in a case with a diameter of 43 mm, with a tourbillon at 9 o’clock and a second dial at 6 o’clock. The watch is released in only ten copies. I wonder who has already become their owner? The William Baume Retrograde watch has a retrograde second hand. It is located at the bottom of the dial (between the marks “4” and “8 hours”) and counts the minute in two movements: 30 seconds elapse, the hand returns to zero and counts another 30. This is a collector's complication for an amateur, the meaning of which can be found in convenience reading: if you need 45 seconds, you do not need to follow the first 30th, if 25 - you do not pay attention to the second. The undoubted advantage of this model is a large date window at around 12 o’clock and automatic winding. This watch released exactly 178 copies. And finally, it's worth talking about the William Baume Ultraplate model. This is a classic tuxedo watch. If you think about it, the creation of such watches is one of the most difficult tasks for any watch manufacture. Ultra-thin and at the same time incredibly simple watches with two hands are sometimes harder and more honorable to make than “weighty” models with ten tourbillons. To the honor of the watchmakers who worked and work at B&M, we note that since the 1920s, Baume & Mercier has been famous for its ultra-thin Black Tie watches.
Federic Cimatti: “what does time mean to me? Tick-tock ... time is an illusion, so people have come up with watches so as not to get lost in the unknown. We say:“ I don’t have time ... I would like to have a little more time ... Time is expensive "It seems time is the greatest luxury, isn't it?"
First went
Since the brand name consists of two names, we assume that the first part of the dedications is over. William Bohm, a famous watchmaker, representative of the dynasty, who wrote his name in the history of fine watchmaking (Haute Horologerie), received a collection created in his honor. Now the house of Baume & Mercier should think about how to celebrate the world-historical role in Paul Mercier in the history of the brand. It would be especially interesting for us, as his compatriots scattered around the world today, to learn as much as possible. Why? Yes, because if William Bom is a hereditary Swiss, then Paul Mercier is a Frenchman only by mother, who worked as a modist at Worth in Paris. The paternal lineage of Paul Mercier's roots goes back to Russia. And if you say the name of the second great man in the tandem of Baume & Mercier, then certainly in the Russian manner - Pavel Cherednichenko. He was the son of a Russian guardsman, artist, artist, jeweler and true PR genius, to use modern terminology. Perhaps he rightfully deserved if not even a nominal watch, preferably made of gold and with good jewelry finish, then certainly a vintage sort of French Bordeaux named after him.
