The car was called the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé and fully deserves its status as a true icon – an off-usurped title. If you were lucky enough to visit the SIHH last January, you doubtless enjoyed a chance to admire this legendary blue and white racing car on the Baume & Mercier booth. Designed by Peter Brock as a coupé interpretation of the Cobra chassis created by Carroll Shelby with the aim of beating the Ferraris, six of these Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé cars were built in Shelby’s California workshops. They reigned supreme over the GT class between 1964 and 1965, smashing several speed records in the process.
Doubtless the most famous of the six models, the CSX2299 won four FIA races, and the American drivers Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant at its wheel achieved a double feat: making it the first American car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans; and setting a new speed record of 196 mph (315 km/h) on the Hunaudières straight. With its V8 engine, its coupé-style tail, its curvaceous design and its flat roof, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé was clearly built for performance.
A partner of Carroll Shelby Inc. since 2015, Baume & Mercier could not fail to pay tribute to the most legendary of American speed machines. Having previously used Capeland models, this is the first time that its Shelby® Cobra collection welcomes a Clifton model: the Clifton Club Shelby® Cobra CSX2299 Limited Edition, to which Peter Brock himself has lent his own graphic touch, 50 years after designing the car (read the interview).
Earlier this year, Baume et Mercier introduced its Clifton Club “hero” collection of sports watches in SIHH with its CEO, Alain Zimmerman, stating that they’re focusing on younger partners. If you haven’t seen the slogan “Gentle Sportsmen,” the demographic with this watch is your bicycle polo playing, large wave grabbing, vintage vehicle driving, alternative sports athlete that wears nicely tailored, slim-fitting suits to casual gatherings and club meetings. I wear a suit fairly frequently, and never once did I feel like it was great apparel to ride a bicycle, push a skateboard, or catch a wave. Although, when it comes to driving a car with its top down and feeling just like James Bond, well, I’d have to provide them a gentlemanly nod.In my mind, Baume et Mercier did not have a client demographic which was young, adventurous, or sporty, and definitely not a part of the counter culture that is cafe racers and classic customs. I thought of them as a watch company for anniversary gifts, a thank you present you purchase for your own parents after your initial “real” pay check, a fashion watch to get a girlfriend or spouse, maybe a graduation gift. The price point for a Baume et Mercier is around a couple thousand; only about the expense of a classic fixer upper. So, why buy a watch when you might be wrenching to a Harley, Norton, or even Ducati?The marketing relationship between “Gentle Sportsmen” and classic classic cars, such as the Shelby Cobra, makes sense, but to be linked to cafe racers, super hooligans, grassroots racers, dirt drifting maniacs, and leather clad club members turned into a theory I needed to receive my mind around. Sure, even if they had been trying to break in the MotoGP audience with a more affordable timepiece, it would be a no brainer, but a Wheels and Waves motorcycling event full of kickstarts, bandanas, and antiques, sounded a bit odd.
A half-blue, half-white dial, a tachymetric scale with “196mph” appearing on the riveted flange, pedal-shaped chronograph pushers, the Cobra logo on the red chronograph seconds hand, case-back apertures revealing the openworked oscillating weight replicating the signature wheel design…. The CSX2299 that won the 1964 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has clearly placed its racing-car aesthetic imprint on this flyback chronograph, while Baume & Mercier’s watchmaking expertise endows it with impressive mechanical performance and precision.
At the heart of its 44mm beadblasted titanium and polished stainless steel case, the self-winding La Joux-Perret Caliber 8147-2 beats at a frequency of 4Hz (28,800 vph), and enjoys a 42-hour power reserve. The flyback function enables a smooth and fast transition from one timing operation in just one press on the chronograph pusher, compared with the three presses generally required. Symbolically issued in a 196-piece edition, with the individual number engraved on the screwed-in sapphire caseback, the Clifton Club Shelby® Cobra CSX2299 watch is fitted with a blue “All Road” calfskin strap embossed with a carbon-like pattern, featuring a black rubberized lining and fastened by a triple folding buckle. Purchasers of this collector’s watch will be gifted an exclusive 1:43 scale model of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé, along with a brochure telling the story of the legendary car.
