Baume & Mercier has produced the first “in-house” automatic movement in its 187 year history. Meet the Clifton Baumatic

by James Buttery

Baume & Mercier has decided the time is ripe to flex Richemont?s newly focused R&D muscle and produce its first ever automatic manufacture movement, the Baumatic BM12-1975A.
The movement is the work of Richemont?s new innovation hub within Neutchâtel?s Microcity, a prominent industry laboratory and think-tank. The incubator unit officially opened in the summer but is set to expand in 2018 to include some 20 engineers.
The combination of Richemont?s new R&D efforts with the group?s movement manufacturing company, ValFleurier, allowed Baume to produce a suitably advanced movement, when compared to the third party movements it uses more commonly, and still bring it in at a price that would make sense to the brand?s customers.
Housed inside the equally new Clifton Baumatic, the new movement seeks to address the kind of mundane but important issues faced by watch owners, namely resistance to magnetism, chronometric precision, power reserve and durability. In terms of magnetism that means guarding against everyday sources, with the brand more interested in guarding against iPads than MRI machines.
When we were shown the watch in November, Baume & Mercier?s chief operating officer Daniel Braillard was on hand with a demonstration that neatly illustrated just how strong the magnets inside some innocuou...