The foundation of the Swiss watchmaking company, Baume et Mercier, dates back to 1830. Currently the company is owned by Richemont. Together with such luxury watch brands like Cartier and Piaget they represent the core of the Richemont group.
The company is represented in 75 countries. It produces about 200,000 timepieces a year. Europe represents one of its main markets, this includes such countries as Italy, Spain and France. Baume et Mercier products are distributed by 220 retailers worldwide. The famous watch manufacturer has established itself the producer of sports chronographs.
In 1834, the representatives of Baume family put the basis of the Societe Baume Feres, which was located in Le Bois. First, the the company started producing pocket watches. In 1844 Joseph Celestin Baume visited England where he was able to establish business relations.
The company's timepieces signed "Waterloo", "Diviko" and "Sirdar" helped Baume et Mercier to open distant markets, including Australia and New Zealand. Baume et Mercier proved its dedication to mechanical watches and precision timekeeping when one of its watch models won the 1893 timing competitions, held at the Kew-Teddington Observatory.
Later, in 1912, the representative of the Baume family, William Baume, met Paul Mercier, who at that time was both a watchmaker and a jeweler. The historical meeting took place at the Geneva watch and jewelery shop. Both signed an agreement on November 26, 1918, which was meant to set the foundation of Baume and Mercier in Geneva.
The company had success and in the next decade, namely in 1921, Baume and Mercier was awarded with the coveted Poincon de Geneve. This represented an official recognition of high quality of the enterprise's watches. Timepieces made at that period of time are now very rare and today they worth thousands of dollars.
When William Baume withdrew himself from the family business in 1937, his follower became Paul Mercier. At that moment the company he was joined by another jeweler, Constantin de Gorski.
After the Second World War aimed on conventional watches for men, sports chronographs as well as jewelery watches for ladies.
In 1965 the Piaget family took over Baume and Mercier. Piaget set a new standard of quality for the company and under its aegis Baume and Mercier was able to produce one of the thinnest calendar watches in the world. The timepiece had a mini rotor which was created under Piaget's aegis.
Starting with the same year the company's new owners focused their attention on electronic tuning fork movements. Thus, in 1970, Baume and Mercier started its active investment in quartz movements.
Active involvement in quartz watch production made the company forget about its mechanical timepieces. This is why in 1983 it stopped the production of watches that ran on mechanical movement.
Five years later Christian and Yves Piaget sold 60% of their share in Baume and Mercier to Piaget holding S.A. They also sold Baume and Mercier S.A to Cartier Monde S.A. located in Paris. At the beginning of the last decade of 20th century, Cartier group was already the owner of both Piaget and Baume and Mercier.
Several years has passed until Baume and Mercier opened, in September of 2004 its new production building, in a place called Les Brenets, Switzerland. The company started producing exclusive luxury watches and now it's highly appreciated among fine watchmakers. Some of its watch models, including the "Riviera" and the "Hampton," illustrated the company's new watch style.
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