On Horology
Written: Mar 19 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful watch. Heavy enough to use as a weapon!
Cons: Kinda pricey. 'Horology' is not the study of, well, you know...
The Bottom Line: A great watch from a great firm.
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| carnut2k4's Full Review: Baume Et Mercier CapeLand MOA08124 Wrist Watch for... |
I’ve always had an obsession with time.
Inadvertently leaving the house without strapping on a wristwatch in the morning is a surefire way to guarantee a bad day at work for me. I’m not sure when this incessant need to know what time it is began, or for that matter what it is that I’m so worried about missing. Whatever the combination of events that conspired to bring this bit of manic pathology into my world, the end result has been a lifelong lust for watches. I’ve got ten or twelve watches right now – plus one more as of a few weeks ago. I am a true horophile.
Baune et Mercier
Baume has been making fine watches in Switzerland for nearly 200 years. The attention to detail and maniacally disciplined mechanical tolerances are right on target with what we’ve all come to expect from those zany Swiss watch makers.
That’s one big clunkin’ watch!
My Baume is from the Capeland S series. This BIG, self-winding watch has a 41mm case which is damn near a half inch thick including the domed crystal. It’s a lot of watch. The all-stainless steel construction carries on to the bracelet which is a three row design with a heavily art deco influenced design. A rotating stainless steel bezel surrounds a gorgeous black watch face. The face itself does have numbers but they are too small to see at a casual glance. Instead you rely on silver hour markers with inlaid glow in the dark strips. The hour and minute hands are of the same construction. The second hand lives in a separate dial located at the six o’clock region of the watch face. At three o’clock you’ll find a date window making for a total of three distinct complications. The watch is topped with the expected sapphire crystal, which in the Baume’s case has been treated with an anti glare coating. Even the crown is a work of art on this watch. It pulls out twice – first to adjust the date and then again to adjust the time. When not in use you push the crown in and wind it clockwise which catches it onto a screw, snugging it in tight against the case and between the crown ‘guards’ ensuring you have a completely snag free and water tight crown. And speaking of water, this Capeland model is certified at depths down to 200 meters – not that I’m likely to ever verify that factoid. The clasp is an ever so popular butterfly design, but of a much higher quality construction than is typical in the industry. You would have to really abuse the watch for that clasp to fail. Of course even if it did fail you probably still wouldn’t lose the watch. It’d be hard to not notice this watch falling off considering its size and nearly half pound weight.
When to wear it
I always wonder what the marketing folk mean when they classify these huge Swiss watches as ‘sports’ watches. Only a fool would wear this watch while playing football (the real, American kind) or basketball. Maybe they mean ‘gentlemen’s sports’ like polo or croquet. I guess if you’re into the less physical sports then this watch might pass muster as a ‘sports’ watch. As far as I’m concerned this is a perfect everyday, casual watch. It’s refined enough to peak out from the cuff of your suit jacket but it feels more at home when you’re wearing jeans and a t-shirt .
Pricing
Baume’s pricing ranges from moderate to completely insane. The Capeland series fall in the moderate to mildly offensive category. Mine has a ‘MSRP’ of $2500 but you can easily find them ‘discounted’ all over the internet to about $1500 brand new.
Precision
Being a self-winding mechanical watch has benefits and drawbacks. For purists it’s the only way to go. It’s a ‘real’ timepiece, distinguished from the ‘fake’ quartz wannabes. However it is old school technology and is only expected to be accurate to within one second per week – whereas a quarts movement would take years to be thrown off be a whole second. For me it’s close enough – but you may want to consider this if you’re thinking about buying a ‘real’ watch.
Happy clock watching!
www.baume-et-mercier.com
En Anglais…
www.baume-et-mercier.com/e/index_e.aspx
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
carnut2k4
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Member: Jason
Location: in the wind
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 59 members
About Me:
The pool's in but the patio ain't dry
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