As far as sport watches with integrated cases and bracelets go, the Baume & Mercier Riviera has to be one of the more underrated and its latest collection in the Baume & Mercier Riviera GMT is no exception. It’s a design with legitimate origins in the early 1970s, a strong case design that lends itself to creativity expressed on the dial and an approachable price point that doesn’t need a bank loan to satisfy.
It was in 2021 that we saw the latest incarnation of the Riviera design language, based on the original Riviera watch from 1973 that arrived hot on the heels of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak of ’72. In tandem, they kicked off a wave of integrated bracelet designs. Believe it or not, the Baume & Mercier Riviera arrived before the Patek Philippe Nautilus (’76), IWC Ingenieur (’76) and Vacheron Constantin 222 (’77), which are all remembered as icons of their era while the Riviera has cemented itself as an underrated legend in most collections.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023, the Baume & Mercier Riviera GMT collection is a fitting way to celebrate half a century since the classic twelve-sided bezel was first released to the public, named after the Côte d’Azur region synonymous with the pursuit of luxuriating leisure. The Riviera was designed with exactly that kind of relaxation in mind and now being newly equipped with a GMT function to track two timezones at once, feels like the sprezzatura-soaked travel watch it was always destined to be.
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With two references arriving with either a blue or white dial, the 42mm steel cases have been kept wearable and slender at just 10.96mm in thickness, tapering nicely into the matching steel bracelet of the white version and the comfortable rubber strap of the blue reference. The 12-side bracelet is affixed by a quartet of hexagonal bezel screws, while the rear of the case is closed with a sapphire crystal caseback that assists in guaranteeing 100m of water resistance.
Evoking the sparkling waters of the Golfe de Saint-Tropez, the dials of both references feature a wave-like pattern across their surface, only interrupted by the applied 5-minute markers, printed 24-hour track and Baume & Mercier logo. The semi-skeletonised hands are elegantly sword-shaped and filled with luminous material, while the GMT hand is executed in a bold red so as to be easy to read at a quick glance.
Beneath the dial is a Swiss-made automatic mechanical movement and while the watchmaker doesn’t confirm details on its site, you can see the markings of the calibre BM11893-2 through the exhibition caseback. With a 42-hour power reserve (based on the ETA 2893-2) and ticking away at 28,800vph, Baume & Mercier does have a pedigree for creating impressively accurate and anti-magnetic calibres in the past, with strong power reserves to boot.
The debut two-timezone Baume & Mercier Riviera GMT collection will be available from May, with the blue dial reference on a rubber strap having an RRP of $4,700 while the white dial reference on the steel bracelet will set you back $4,900.
