The Swiss watch brand was the official sponsor of the first annual Wheels & Waves event held in Cayucos at the Swallow Creek Ranch.
Over the course of three days, attendees enjoyed a cultural experience on the coastline of San Luis Obispo County. Guests rode authentic Indian motorcycles and experienced a variety of races at the Santa Maria and Santa Margarita Raceways.
On this occasion, custom Baume & Mercier Clifton Club watches were awarded to race winners. Engraved on the case back of the Clifton Club Automatic model is a one-of-a-kind design commemorating each individual race – Super Hooligans, Vintage Class and Sprint Hero.
“We are thrilled to be a part of such a unique and cultural event,” said Alain Zimmermann, CEO of Baume & Mercier. “The partnership with Wheels & Waves is a fantastic way to celebrate Clifton Club and showcase our commitment to strengthening our presence in the sports segment, with a lighthearted approach.”
Clifton Club © Baume & Mercier
The spirit of Wheels & Waves embodies the true essence of the Clifton Club Collection: fair play, camaraderie, respect, friendship and designed for adventure. The Wheels & Waves sponsorship continues Baume & Mercier’s new connection to motorcycles’ universe recently announced with Indian Motorcycle Company.
You may expect on something dressier like that to see brightly polished hands – and that I can see the appeal. After having the blued hands in sight, even however, I think they work very well. For starters, it makes a crisp contrast to the white of the dial, which makes for simple readability. The coloration can also be somewhat shifty. By this, I mean it may appear a bright blue in 1 light, then change into an almost-black colour (and it seems darker in most of these photos), which again speaks to a dressier piece.On the wrist, that the 68g Baume & Mercier Hampton was a cure. Take special note of that weight, as that’s just about a featherweight when it has to do with automatics (or, perhaps, I am just too utilized to steel dive watches). While the instance back is not curved at all, I found the fit on my wrist to be good. The alligator strap included some extra texture to the watch, and the signed deployant clasp worked well, and I didn’t have any difficulties with it digging into my wrist once I had matters sized, which I love. That is something I’ve noticed is a larger problem when you have a deployant on a strap – it may wind up adding unnecessary mass, which ends up digging into your skin. Here, I didn’t have that issue, thankfully.Coming in at an asking price of $2,650, the Baume & Mercier Hampton is a strong little luxury dress watch. I believe that the one we reviewed with the blue handset is easily the most flexible, since you might easily swap into a brown strap onto this and also have a more casual look, which makes it more flexibility. Obviously, you may also opt for a model which arrives on the brown strap (in either an automatic or a walnut – the quartz model dropping the price $1100). While dress watch purists may not agree with me, I really do believe that the Baume & Mercier Hampton is a great art deco inspired dress watch prepared to take on the office or a night out with a tux.
