By John Galt
With Baume et Mercier’s resent raise from a brand in the shadows, they have released a new collection of ladies timepieces available in either quartz or automatic versions, for this review I’ll be focusing on the mechanical self-winding version as I personally prefer a watch with a beating heart as opposed to battery. The new collection follows in the footsteps of other successful timepieces for ladies the Marquise, Stardust and Galaxy and now the Promesse.
The Promesse features an elegant stainless steel classic round case with an oval bezel nestled around a silver or mother of pearl dial with guilloche décor. The dial offers the wearer superb readability thanks to nice large roman numerals and indexes. Two size options available are 30mm & 34mm and both have slightly different features.
The 30mm version is available in three models: steel, steel and red gold-capped steel and pictured above with mother of pearl dial with the oval bezel set with 30 diamonds which I must say I like, not too many diamonds as to spoil the elegance but just enough for it to sparkle with the dial. Not many ladies watches feature an exhibition caseback but the Promesse has which is great. Spin the 30mm version over and your greeted with the beating heart of an ETA 2671 automatic movement with 38 hour power reserve.
The second of the two versions is a 34mm case still with the oval bezel as with the other models except for a slight twist. Gone are the diamonds in the bezel, the dial has lost all but 3,6,9&12 roman numerals and replaced the lost numbers with 8 wesselton diamonds in their place.
With a larger case the movement has also changed to an ETA 2892 movement which offers a visual through the exhibition case of it’s beating heart that is pure beauty. The power reserve on this watch is 42 hours.
The steel bracelet and folding clasp are beautifully harmonised to the case with each link following the case’s curves. To quote Baume et Mercier “looks just like the ripples produced by a drop of water”.
Conclusion
These new edition harks back to days gone by with their classically elegant looking beautiful mother-of pearl dials and with just a few diamonds to add to their beauty. I for one have been captured by its charms and beauty, would I buy one for my wife? I most certainly would. For more info, please visit baume-et-mercier.com
John Galt – Contributing Editor
John Galt caught the horology bug 4 years ago on his first visit to a London watch show and has snowballed since; John has become an avid writer and blogger of timepieces of all kinds, from everyday timepieces to modern Luxury Haute Horology, his favorite brands being HYT and Greubel Forsey that push the bounders of modern watch-making. John keeps a keen interest in the UK watch scene with their many emerging brands and timepiece’s. John Galt currently contributes watch related articles for online publications in the UK and USA. You can follow John on Twitter @johng73 Read his articles here.
