Earlier this season, Baume et Mercier released its Clifton Club “hero” set of sport watches at SIHH using its CEO, Alain Zimmerman, saying that they’re focusing on younger clientele. If you haven’t noticed the slogan “Gentle Sportsmen,” the demographic with this watch is the bicycle polo playing, large wave grabbing, vintage car driving, alternative sports athlete that wears well tailored, slim-fitting suits to casual parties and club meetings. I use a suit fairly regularly, and never once did I feel as though it was great apparel to ride a bike, push a skateboard, or grab a wave. Although, when it comes to driving a car with its top down and feeling like James Bond, well, I would have to give them a gentlemanly nod.In my head, Baume et Mercier didn’t have a client demographic which was youthful, adventurous, or sporty, and certainly not part of the counter culture that is cafe racers and vintage customs. I thought of them as a watch company for anniversary gifts, a thank you present you purchase for your parents following your first “real” pay check, a style watch to get a girlfriend or spouse, maybe a graduation gift. The cost point for a Baume et Mercier is around a few million; just about the cost of a vintage fixer upper. Sure, even if they had been trying to break in the MotoGP audience having a less expensive timepiece, it would be a no brainer, but a Wheels and Waves motorcycling event filled with kickstarts, bandanas, and antiques, sounded a little strange.
At the SIHH in January, Baume & Mercier launched its Clifton Club collection on a stand that used the theme of “gentlesportsmen”. Even if you did not have chance to try out the surfing simulator on their stand, or admire the photos of some unusual sports on the walls surrounding the Daytona Cobra, you can guess from the name the universe that the brand was aiming at.
More recently, Baume & Mercier gave us a more detailed look at what it understands by the term, at an event organised on the banks of the Aare river on the outskirts of Bern in Switzerland. The particular sportsmen in question were Sacha Prost, son of the legendary Formula 1 driver, Morgan Hellen, world university rowing champion, Pat Burgener, snowboarder and musician, Paul Vergnaud, world bike polo champion and Gautier Fayolle, a freestyle footballer. It was a busy day, therefore, as I tried out some of these sports. Trying out bike polo on an uneven, sloping surface was not ideal. Furthermore, as a left-hander riding a bike configured for a right-hander (there is only one brake lever on the left, since you are holding the polo mallet in the other hand), I was clearly disadvantaged from the outset. Freestyle football was easier than it looks. With some patient explanations from Gautier Fayolle, who is one of the pioneers of the sport and manages to make a living from it through sponsorship and monetised YouTube videos, I was able to master some basic moves relatively easily.
The emphasis in the projection of the brand image for the new Clifton Club collection, which has earned widespread plaudits for its savvy mix of contemporary design, use of new materials such as a NATO-style rubber strap, and an attractive price point, is clearly on the younger generation. All of the “gentlesportsmen” attending the event were in their early twenties but had already demonstrated their ability as well as their future potential. This is an extension of a previous Baume & Mercier campaign that targeted young students, suggesting its timepieces as a graduation present. The idea is to accompany this generation at the most important points in their lives.
Alexandre Peraldi, design director at Baume & Mercier, who was on hand throughout the day with mood boards and technical drawings to explain how the Clifton Club collection came to life, dedicated the collection to the gentlesportsmen. “The collection is more than just for guys who play sport,” he said. “It’s for guys who enjoy sport and enjoy the time after sport.”