I have been pretty interested in Baume & Mercier for some time now, I follow their designs and like to see what they are up to. They have some nice timepieces in their range from the Clifton to the Hampton. As the entry-level offering of the Richemont Group, they are becoming more widely recognised within not only the watch collecting community, but the wider community.

So a model that has caught my attention is the Riveria 10616, this is an integrated bracelet steel sports watch with a patterned dial that is octagonal in shape. This is not a new design, this was pioneered by the Royal Oak in the 1970s with this style becoming intensely popular again. There are different screws retaining the bezel to make the Reiveria a little different from a standard Genta design.

Baume & Mercier has now developed in-house movements, I was initially surprised as the Richemont Group positioned Baume & Mercier in their mid range offering. Interestingly Baume & Mercier is one of the lower end timepieces in their collection, that’s a pretty decent group of watchmakers mind you. The Richmont high end timepieces of Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger LeCoultre, Cartier, A. Lange & Sohne, IWC, Piaget and Panerai have in-house movements.

Getting one of these premium watchmakers to supply movements to Baume & Mercier just would not work, a far better model was to rework Selitta movements to Baume & Mercier specifications. I am ok with that, a Selitta automatic movement is not a deal breaker for me. The Riveria 10616 still houses the Sellita movement, but one would expect that to change in the future.

That has somewhat changed, Baume & Mercier now have an in-house movement they developed in partnership with ValFleurier Manufacture. I would be expecting the Baumatic BM12-1975A chronometer with a silicon hairspring and five day power reserve. For the lower level watchmaker in the Richemont Group, this is an outstanding option that should not be overlooked.