Baume & Mercier's Riviera has been keeping pace with the times for more than 50 years. Inspired by the carefree lifestyle of the French Riviera, this is the watch of casual elegance symbolizing an easygoing view of refined watchmaking.
It was first developed in 1973 and has adapted to every era, year after year, while staying true to its own special style. Its steel adornments and strong shape have always represented a form of freedom and an offbeat elegance. And now it represents renewal.
In 2021, Baume & Mercier presented the fifth-generation Riviera, which continues to uphold the Brand’s expertise, capturing the signs of our modern times to better revisit them. Since then, the Riviera has revealed a number of variations. Starting in the ’90s, the first Riviera chronographs brought continuing development to the collection and reflected the new codes and trends of each passing year.
The story continues this year with three variations of the brand-new Riviera chronograph in a 43 mm diameter. In 2023, the Riviera chronograph complication translates into a distinctive new bicolor model thanks to a combination of titanium and gold-tone PVD.
The latest addition to the Riviera collection, this chronograph is driven by a premium self-winding Swiss Made mechanical movement. Resistant to 100 m, it displays the day and date in two horizontal apertures located at 3 o’clock. Emblematic of sports elegance, this watch offers the strength of evocating the original models from the ’70s while revisiting their DNA. It shares the same shape, spirit and function.
Its slate-gray hue is sun-satin, featuring a gray flange and carved-and-snailed auxiliary counters that create an impression of very deep relief. The perfectly proportioned, skeletonized gold-tone hands are coated with white Superluminova (blue glow), echoing the gold-tone ring that subtly appears between the bezel and the caseband. The sapphire crystal of the dodecagonal back, fastened with four screws, reveals the tried-and-true self-winding movement that drives this distinctive chronograph. Moreover, the scratch-resistant sapphire crystal on the front has an anti-glare coating on both sides for perfect readability.
This piece is adorned with a built-in gray rubber strap featuring a canvas decoration and a triple folding buckle with security push-pieces and an easy adjustment system. The very reliable Baume & Mercier interchangeability framework makes it possible to change the strap in a few seconds without the need for tools.
