Showcasing a mesmerizing blue-and-stainless-steel construction, the Baume & Mercier Men's Riviera Divers Automatic Watch is an eye-catching timepiece and superior diving accessory. Designed with a stainless steel case, the timepiece includes a bold blue dodecagonal unidirectional bezel, and a stainless steel link bracelet secured with a push-button-deployment clasp. A scratch-resistant-sapphire window shields the silver dial, which features luminous dot hour markers with a Roman numeral index at the 12 o'clock position. The dial also includes slim black minute indexes, luminous blue watch hands, and a date calendar at six o'clock. This Swiss-automatic-movement timepiece is water resistant to 660 feet (200 M).
In 1973 the Riviera revolutionized the aesthetic watch-making characteristics by being equipped with a dodecagonal case--12 sides for 12 hours, or the geometric expression of a clever dose of innovation, classicism and creativity. Today a highly contemporary design that highlights the pure lines of this legendary watch, indissociable from Baume & Mercier's rich history.
- Quality Swiss Automatic movement; Functions without a battery; Powers automatically with the movement of your arm
- Scratch-resistant sapphire crystal
- Superluminova Coated Hour Markers and Indexes and Hour, Minute and Second Hands; Date at the 6 o'clock Position
- Blue Unidirectional Rotating Bezel with 60-minute diving scale
- Water-resistant to 660 feet (200 M)
I was eyeballing the following watch for about 3 years before finally buying this. Three years back it was still selling for close to MSRP, and I acquired a Raymond Weil Parsifal instead. Now that it must be here, it has certainly been subjected to debilitating scrutiny.
And how easier to inflict agonizing scrutiny on a watch than to examine it to my Omega Seamaster Coaxial chronometer? From the tender we go.
Starting using the box... it is the standard (for watches in this specific range) cardboard box, bordering another box of properly, honestly, I'm not really sure what material, with the watch inside on the cushion. And of training the ridiculously large owner's manual. The Omega box encounter is a bit extra impressive, but only marginally so.
Let's go on the case. The Riviera is famous for its dodecagonal case, which will some have said is actually a copy of the Audemars Piguet Royal Pine eight-sided case. The actual Royal Oak came out a year earlier (1972 vs. 1973), i don't know enough pertaining to watch production cycles to learn whether that suggests a Riviera is a duplicate or if there's latitude evolution at work. Whatever the case (so to speak), I love the twelve-sided scenario on the Riviera much better, since it matches this hour markers.
Because the actual Riviera is a diver's watch (200m), it has the benefit of a dodecagonal rotating frame. The bezel rotates throughout half-minute stops. A person issue with a dodecagonal bezel on some sort of dodecagonal case is that if rotated, the corners on the bezel could stick out and about past the edges on the case. B&M collection the bezel in plenty of (that is, the diam of the bezel is less than the height of the case) that whenever the bezel is revolving 15 degrees (maximum countered), the corner of the actual bezel just reaches the sting of the case. A very well-executed design. Certainly they thought this through.
The blue color around the bezel is annodized or even painted (it has identical metallic texture as this paint on a car or truck). The silver numbers appear to be of the same content but in silver, not raised nor inset through the surface of the frame. Because it is not similar material as the blued steel hands, it's not necessarily exactly the same color and doesn't reflect lumination exactly the same means - but it's pretty nearby. Markings on the bezel are basically copied from your Rolex Sub. After ninety days of periodic use, there isn't any visible scratches, chips or other color loss around the bezel.
The dial will be flawlessly executed under loupe examination. Much like the actual Omega, printing is perfect, with slightly raised letters. I like the B&M's execution on the letters a bit superior, but that's just very own preference. Both watches use a very subtle sunray design on the background from the dial (the Omega with blue, the B&M in silver).
The actual hands on the B&M are blued steel, vs. typical steel on the Omega. Execution of the hands is slightly better about the B&M, with each of the edges perfectly crisp. The foot of the second hand on the Omega is very marginally rough under loupe assessment. So here I present an edge to the actual B&M. The form of the B&M's palms is also unique. Another hand is the Rolex Sub baton hand using the lumed dot. The minute hand is a fairly standard lumed sword hand. The particular hour hand is a hollow sword hand which includes a lumed semicircle on spare on both near the tip, creating the B&M hallmark letter Phi. My best ally (a much greater horology buff than I) made an extremely bad-mannered comment about the model of the hour hand, advising a Freudian interpretation. We will just set that besides.
And let's talk regarding the lume. The lume around the Omega is very functional. The lume on the actual B&M is remarkable, by far the best of any watch I personal. The indices are massive, lumed dots, except to the twelve, which is a large, lumed roman numeral. The particular twelve o'clock dot index on the bezel is also lumed. Because of the distinctive shape of this hands, it is quickly obvious which hand is usually which in the darker, and the lume within the roman twelve and frame dot make the location of the watch noticeable. This is the solely watch I own exactly where it is totally, quickly obvious what time it can be in the dark. Moreover, the lume is very secure.
The crystal appears to get antireflective. While that will not be stated anywhere in the specs, it hardly echos at all.
I have on my Omega on any strap, but it had a bracelet. So we can compare bracelets. The B&M has slick outer links with cleaned inner links. The Rr is entirely brushed. The actual deployant clasp is solo on the Omega, twice on the B&M. But the Omega gets points for your nifty Omega logo on the closure (no logo within the B&M), the B&M feels better made. In addition, the B&M uses screw-in links (the particular Omega uses push pins). I had to spend only a couple regarding minutes to resize the B&M to my own little girlie wrist. Them wears extremely comfortably, as often so as any look at I own despite it is relatively large size.
Your movement, obviously, is the location where the Omega distinguishes itself. This Seamaster uses the ground breaking Coaxial movement and will be chronometer rated. The B&M uses a normal 2824 (I don't understand what grade) and is certainly not chronometer rated. We will see how well it keeps time in practice. Oddly enough, I can see the visible difference between the B&M's 8 beats every second and the Omega's 7 beats each second. The B&M gains about xiii seconds per day, that is consistent across all positions. The consistency should imply it could be faithfully regulated to a quite high degree of accuracy, we will not have executed until I take them in for periodic services in five years or so.
Speaking of movements, obviously I got to blunder about a bit using the crown in the steps involved in setting the watch. Your crown is hexagonal, together with another slightly raised hexagon offset 30 degrees and the Phi company logo imposed on it. Them matches the rest in the watch nicely. The action on the crown is exclusive in my experience - easy yet firm, and electrifying much more confidence than the Omega's crown action. It feels like the mechanicals of a German born car. Similar to this bezel, B&M provided some thought to the particular angles of the crest - it's been threaded in such a way that when fully screwed in, one of the edges of the hexagon is definitely parallel to the airplane of the bezel.
Thus that's it. Amazingly, this B&M lived as much as my inflated expectations, and is particularly in my opinion greater executed than the Rr in most ways, together with the obvious exception of a movement.
Considering all the truly amazing watches out there, is this B&M with its vanilla 2824 movement definitely worth the price when there are usually perfectly serviceable watches around with the same specialized characteristics for half as much? In my personal thoughts and opinions, I think it actually is.
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