Baume & Mercier's Social Media Foray

The venerable firm has a well-earned reputation as a purveyor of classically styled, even conservative, timepieces, occasionally with a very modest twist. Tabloid headlines and candid confessionals have never been its style, any more than outlandish fashion statements in its core collection.

But as it celebrates its 180th birthday this year – timed from 1830 when the Baume brothers, Louis Victor and Pierre-Joseph Celestin, founded the house in the Swiss village of Les Bois – Baume & Mercier is suddenly going all modern on us. Go to its website and you are led directly to “secrets of a watchmaking family”, delivered via Facebook and Twitter in the episodic style of a daytime soap.

Doubtless to the relief of all those traditionalist B&M fans out there, though, there’s nothing very shocking about the family’s revelations, unless you consider Paul Mercier’s dapper dress sense – “three-piece suit, coloured pocket-handkershief, thin moustache” - racy. What you will find is a video introduction from Simone Gaudard, great-granddaughter of the founder, and a chronology in diary form of the company’s development.

You will also be invited to post comments and video testimonials to the greater glory of the B&M collection, lured in by the flattering declaration that “the most beautiful Baume & Mercier story is your own.” Baume & Mercier’s enthusiasatic plunge into social networking may be traceable to the marketing savvy of Richemont, which now owns the brand, but it seems to be working. Its Facebook wall is filling up and as of mid-January it already had 900 fans and counting.

What it is unlikely to do, though, is change the fundamental approach at B&M, witness the recently unveiled Classima Executive XL Chronograph and Complete Calendar Watch.

It is unlikely to have anyone popping the champagne at first glance, marking a pleasing advance on an established style rather than a great leap forward. But its handsome dial features a year-calendar, a moon-phase display and a 24-hour indicator, as well as a silver-on-black elegance that will go perfectly with evening wear. The latest Classima Exec also shows that while Baume & Mercier may be moving on, it still knows what it does best.