When I look at two competing watch brands, I see Baume and Mercier and Longines fighting for the same market segment. The Richemont owned Baume and Mercier compete directly with the Swatch Group owned Longines.

As a duty of disclosure, I own Longines but do not own any Baume and Mercier timepieces, I do not own exactly what I wanted in the Longines product line. I own an older Conquest reference L3.677.4.58.6 that is a decent watch. There are some issues with the crown and crown guard, there are plenty of people who have issues with that styling. The 2023 reference has a much more elegant integral crown guard and crown, I can see that. That being said, pretty robust and chunky, for the best part – I like it.

What I like about Baume and Mercier is their styling, this is the entry level offering from Richemont. The advertising is high quality, they are targeting a fairly refined market and I believe they hit their target market. What Baume and Mercier have to offer is pretty good value for money, there is a sophisticated purchaser who has a high enough disposable income for a luxury watch, but not necessarily the budget for a Vacheron Constantin or an A. Lange & Söhne. The Richemont Group offers some exquisite timepieces in their line-up, Baume and Mercier is their entry-level line up, this is impressive.