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We have gone hands-on with the new Year of the Fire Horse limited edition Clifton from Baume & Mercier, which turns out to be a great Chinese New Year piece and an all-around dressier watch.

It has become customary for watch brands to tap into the Chinese Zodiac to celebrate the Chinese New Year. For many, this time of year represents new beginnings, traditionally celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of spring (in the northern hemisphere that is), a new year in the lunar calendar and new life. I think this is something we can all appreciate, no matter what our religious or philosophical beliefs are.

So each year, coming into the new calendar year, and especially leading up to the Chinese New Year around February, we see a slew of brands bringing out their interpretation of the new Zodiac sign that is to come, of which there are 12, meaning we only see this every 12 years, and in each animal sign, there are 5 elements that are associated with it. Thus, each Zodiac sign with a specific element will only come around every 60 years. This year, we celebrate the Year Of The Fire Horse – representing dynamic change, momentum and bold, decisive action, and Baume & Mercier has encapsulated it very well!

A few years ago, I delved into the history of Baume & Mercier, and the brand today, like many watch brands with almost two centuries worth of history, is different from the one started back in 1830 by the two Baume Brothers. Over the decades, and now centuries, it has evolved from a brand that was specialising in high complications and winning awards at The Kew Watch Trials, to being a solid mid-entry-level player in the Swiss watch industry. With watch prices ever increasing, Baume & Mercier has held pretty steady over the years, and still offers good value for money watches at a mid-level price point.

This evolution has also allowed Baume & Mercier to create collections that suit different tastes and styles, from the sporty Riviera to the more refined and elegant Clifton – the later which we’ve got our hands on to review, and more specifically, the special edition Clifton Year of The Fire Horse. A limited edition of 100 pieces, celebrating its namesake for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

First Impressions

The Baume & Mercier Clifton Year Of The Fire Horse is a nice-looking watch right out of the box. The case is nice and slim with angled and faceted lugs. The gold-tone indices and hands really offset the gradient dial, and the date aperture with the disc is a nice touch, with the horse character on all the even numbers, and the odd numbers as dates in Arabic numerals.

The horse motif on the caseback in gold is a nice touch, and beneath the crystal, the Baumatic automatic movement with a five-day power reserve keeps the watch ticking throughout the week. This means, if you wear this every day during an average work week, you can take it off over the weekend, and will still be running with plenty of battery on Monday morning when you strap it back on to head to the office.

The red on the underside of the strap is a nice touch, which is a bit of an ode to the Chinese New Year colour, and the leather is the standard type of the strap that you find on most Baume & Mercier watches – done in a matte black finishing, which over time will probably weather nicely with age.

The Design

So, let’s start with the dial, and probably the best place is the date window, as this is one of the show stoppers on the dial. Unlike conventional date windows, the Clifton’s dial integrates a dynamic and expressive approach, centred on the enlarged date aperture at 6 o’clock. Here, even-numbered dates are represented by a sequence of galloping horse figures, each in a slightly different pose. This has been done so if the date wheel were to spin rapidly, it would create the illusion of continuous motion – a clever and poetic embodiment of the horse’s vitality and momentum.

The odd-numbered days have some selected numerals in Chinese characters as well, adding to the Arabic numerals, subtly reinforcing the cultural theme without overwhelming the core functionality of the watch. It is a way Baume & Mercier has woven in poetry and storytelling with functionality, which I do like, as it does help reinforce the theme and narrative within the Clifton Year of the Fire Horse.

The dial itself is a dark grey with gradated lacquered finishes, giving it depth and visual richness under changing light. Baume & Mercier has done a nice job on the dial, and it helps to amplify the gold accents of the central crosshairs, minute track, alpha-shaped hands, and trapezoidal riveted indexes. Gold is a classical symbol of wealth, nobility, and warmth in both Chinese culture and Swiss watchmaking, and Baume & Mercier has married the two together perfectly.

Perhaps the most striking (but most subtle when on the wrist) detail is the use of red on the strap lining, a colour deeply rooted in Chinese tradition as a bearer of happiness, good fortune, and success. As this is on the underside, it remains hidden while on the wrist, but there for the wearer to admire when taking it off. It is also equipped with a quick-change spring bar, so should you want to, you can change out the strap quickly.

Flip the watch over, and the exhibition caseback reveals another layer of the Fire Horse story: a galloping stallion silhouette in a golden transfer. This motif reinforces not just the Fire Horse story, but also the attention to detail that Baume & Mercier brings to limited editions.

How It Wears

Baume & Mercier has chosen to give the Clifton Year of the Fire Horse a 40mm case, which is a very well-proportioned 11.3mm thick. The lugs are not overdone, tapering nicely and with enough length to accommodate the strap, but not much more. They are also fairly slim, so you don’t get a lot of metal compared to some watches of a similar size, and with the curved spring bars, the leather strap conforms to the case. This assists with the visual slimness of the watch across the wrist.

On my 17.5cm wrist, it is in the sweet spot for sizing at 40mm. Given this is more of a dressier watch, you probably wouldn’t want to go much larger than this, as then it will start to hinder the ability to wear under a shirt cuff when you are wearing a suit. At 11.3 mm thickness, the Clifton is not too thick, but conversely, it’s not too thin either, so it still has some wrist presence for those who want it. Personally, I like a dress watch that isn’t too thin, as I still want to feel I’m wearing a watch on my wrist, especially if I intend to wear it more as a daily.

As I mentioned earlier in the article, I feel that the reflectiveness of the crystal somewhat hampers the wearing experience and viewing the dial. This is a common occurrence when you have a domed crystal and a dark dial underneath with not quite enough anti-reflective coating on either side of the crystal.

For someone who loves taking photos of watches, and also does so as part of my job, the Clifton Year of the Fire Horse was not the easiest piece to take a photo of due to the glare. This comes through both the camera lens and when you look at it with your eyes, but at the right strategic angle, you can get a beautiful shot of the watch itself.

Small points on photography aside, it still is a beautiful-looking watch with that gradient grey dial, and the gold markers, hands, and date window that offsets it beautifully. So, paired with a suit, or dressed down a little for casual wear, it seems to fit both styles effortlessly, and for me, it bridges the gap between a dress watch and an everyday wearing watch.

The Movement

At the heart of the Baume & Mercier Clifton Year of the Fire Horse is the Baumatic Manufacture movement BM13-1975A. Unlike many watches in this segment, this calibre is a certified chronometer with COSC and has a full 5-day (120 hours) of power reserve, a benchmark at this price and design class. There are honestly not many other major Swiss brands that have this at the circa A$6,000 price point, given the industry benchmark is around 3 days or 72 hours.

It is also resistant to magnetic fields up to 1,500 Gauss, an increasingly relevant feature in daily wear, and plenty given that we are exposed to at most, about 300-500 Gauss with all the devices we have on us and around the house these days. Although in saying this, an iPhone puts out about 350 Gauss right on top of where certain components are, but once you’re a couple of centimetres away, it drops to under 10. So the Clifton will be safe from magnetisation in everyday environments.

Through the caseback, the movement reveals decent finishing for the price point: the main bridge is circular-grained (Perlage), and a sandblasted and snailed baseplate can be seen around the edges under the main part of the movement, plus an openworked oscillating weight, which has a combination of striped and snailed brushing. Baume & Mercier say this is a Côtes de Genève finish, but looking closely at the rotor, I’m not 100% sold that it is.

Testing the movement out by changing the time of the date, I did find that the crown stem had some give or play in it. When changing the time, you probably get about a quarter of a rotation before the minute hand starts to move, and when changing the date in its second position, you do have to cycle the crown around quite a few times before the date wheel moves across to the next date. This isn’t a dealbreaker by any stretch, but I thought it was worthwhile to point out.

Final Thoughts

As I was writing this review, the industry news came through that Richemont, the parent company for Baumé & Mercier, had decided to sell the brand to Italian fashion house Damiani. In all honesty, it wasn’t a surprise that Richemont decided to do this, given its business strategy to focus on more of the higher-end luxury brands within its portfolio. I have always felt that Baumé & Mercier was a brand that Richemont hasn’t really put a lot of backing behind, and it sat towards the bottom of its watch portfolio, where, in reality, it could have been elevated and given a lot more prestige and status had the parent company invested more money into it. 

The brand has a long heritage, albeit a slightly disjointed one, but in saying that, it does produce some very nice-looking and well-priced watches. The Clifton collection is an example of this, with a mid-level circa A$6,000 price point. You can still buy a decent quality, nice-looking watch that can be worn every day.

I said a similar thing about the Riviera GMT I reviewed a few years back, where it has a design and style that goes back to the early 70s and was brought about on the back of the success of integrated bracelet watches that were popular at the time. Interestingly, the original design was done by Jean-Claude Gueit, the father of Emmanuel Gueit, who designed the Royal Oak Offshore, so the Riviera has some design provenance and links back to that era as well.

Baume & Mercier’s Clifton Year of the Fire Horse retails for A$5,750, which by today’s standard and pricing, is a fairly value-packed option given it is a nice-looking watch, limited to just 100 pieces to celebrate the Chinese New Year. In addition has the Baummatic movement with a five-day power reserve, which is more uncommon at these price levels. When you think about other pieces that have a five-day power reserve, you’re talking well into the five figures and now edging towards the A$20,000 mark in many instances, regardless of the watch being a sports watch, dress watch or other.

And if that wasn’t value enough for you, I have been told that for a limited time, until the Australian allocation of these watches is exhausted, Hardy Brothers is offering a free WOLF Cub single watch winder (valued at $545 RRP), exclusive to Hardy Brothers, when you purchase the new Baume & Mercier Clifton Year of the Fire Horse. The example we have here is also in the red, which ties in beautifully with the Chinese New Year.

Having sat down with Simon Wolf himself to talk through how they design their WOLF watch winders, I can say without question that they are great products that work very well. In fact, I have one of their travel watch winders that I take with me regularly, meaning I always have a watch that is winding on the go. We here at Watch Advice don’t have any affiliation with this promotion whatsoever, but we thought it was pertinent to this review, as this is part of the sales promotion the brand is having in conjunction with WOLF and Hardy Brothers stores in Australia.

On that note, if you are after a nice-looking dressier watch that has an elegant design language, and you happen to be born in the Year of the Horse, which, if I go back over the last 70-odd years, are: 1954 (Wood Horse), 1966 (Fire Horse), 1978 (Earth Horse), 1990 (Metal/Gold Horse), 2002 (Water Horse), 2014 (Wood Horse) and now, 2026 (Fire Horse), then this piece from Baume & Mercier is a good value option at A$5,750.

Reference: M0A10839 Baume & Mercier Clifton Year of the Fire Horse

Specification:

• Dimensions: 40mm x 11.3mm thick
• Case Material: Stainless steel, bushed and polished
• Dial: Gradient grey dial, gold coloured indices, hands and date window with horse motif
• Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
• Water Resistance: 50m (5 Bar)
• Movement: Automatic winding Baumatic Calibre BM13-1975A beating at 4Hz and COSC Certified
• Power reserve: 120 hours / 5 days
• Strap: Black leather strap, red inner lining with quick-change spring bars and steel push-button butterfly clasp

Australian Recommended Retail Price: AUD $5,750

Availability: Limited to 100 pieces. Available through authorised retailers, such as Hardy Brothers, or head online to baume-et-mercier.com

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