Baume and Mercier Experience

Cabfan

Just came across the Riveria line and am intrigued at both the selitta and in house options but would love to hear opinions...

#baumeandmercier
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Tikkaspecial
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Same here. The baumatic movement is obviously pick of the bunch, but is a significant hike that puts it into the Tudor territory. 

Cabfan
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Tikkaspecial

Same here. The baumatic movement is obviously pick of the bunch, but is a significant hike that puts it into the Tudor territory. 

Exactly, and the selitta price puts it in top micros, oris and the like.  But I really like the history and most importantly the look has me hooked...

Mr.Dee.Bater
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I always go for the watch with the Sellita or ETA movement and try to avoid in-house like the plague:

  • Swatch bought up all the movement manufacturers and tried to put their competition out of business by no longer supplying ETAs to their competitors.  But, Swiss government stepped in and forced them to continue selling movements
  • As a result, all Swiss watch companies had to move to "in-house."  Their marketing proclaims how amazing "in-house" is
  • However, when it comes to highly complex components, the market dictates that 1 large incumbent should take over supply to the entire industry - highly complex component manufacturers are invariably natural monopolies.  Because the creation of such complex components, and ensuring their quality and reliability over time is so expensive, and those costs are fixed costs, you almost invariably end up with natural monopolies.  In automobile transmissions, you have ZF.  In operating systems, you have Windows.  In bicycle drive trains, you have Shimano.  ETA was the natural monopoly in watches, as they could ensure movements with incredibly high quality and reliability, with different designs having proven the test of time over the course of decades
  • Now, you have watchmakers claiming "in-house" movements that are superior to these piddly,  cheap "workhorse" movements like ETA and Sellita.  How long have these "superior" in-house movements been around?  How reliable are they, really?  And if they were so superior, why do they cost so much more???  One hypothesis would be:   "Well, you need to charge consumers a lot more money for your in-house movements, because you know that you're going to need to cover a hell of a lot of warranty claims!  So, you're just having consumers pay upfront for those expected future issues!"

Just one man's opinion.

watchobsessed
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Mr.Dee.Bater

I always go for the watch with the Sellita or ETA movement and try to avoid in-house like the plague:

  • Swatch bought up all the movement manufacturers and tried to put their competition out of business by no longer supplying ETAs to their competitors.  But, Swiss government stepped in and forced them to continue selling movements
  • As a result, all Swiss watch companies had to move to "in-house."  Their marketing proclaims how amazing "in-house" is
  • However, when it comes to highly complex components, the market dictates that 1 large incumbent should take over supply to the entire industry - highly complex component manufacturers are invariably natural monopolies.  Because the creation of such complex components, and ensuring their quality and reliability over time is so expensive, and those costs are fixed costs, you almost invariably end up with natural monopolies.  In automobile transmissions, you have ZF.  In operating systems, you have Windows.  In bicycle drive trains, you have Shimano.  ETA was the natural monopoly in watches, as they could ensure movements with incredibly high quality and reliability, with different designs having proven the test of time over the course of decades
  • Now, you have watchmakers claiming "in-house" movements that are superior to these piddly,  cheap "workhorse" movements like ETA and Sellita.  How long have these "superior" in-house movements been around?  How reliable are they, really?  And if they were so superior, why do they cost so much more???  One hypothesis would be:   "Well, you need to charge consumers a lot more money for your in-house movements, because you know that you're going to need to cover a hell of a lot of warranty claims!  So, you're just having consumers pay upfront for those expected future issues!"

Just one man's opinion.

You may be onto something here

watchobsessed
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#baumeandmercier seem to engender a lot of mixed opinions among the watch expert crowd online and especially on YouTube. I like some of their watches, but I can’t get a good feel for them as a brand.

JBird7986
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watchobsessed

#baumeandmercier seem to engender a lot of mixed opinions among the watch expert crowd online and especially on YouTube. I like some of their watches, but I can’t get a good feel for them as a brand.

That’s because they seem to be half dead as a brand. They were an entry level luxury brand for a very long time, but even though they’re part of the Richemont group, they seem to be like the red headed stepchild.