Celebrating the Petite Promesse in New York City

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Celebrating the Petite Promesse in New York City - Baume & Mercier
With a hint of spring in the air in New York City, Baume & Mercier celebrated the arrival of the Petite Promesse collection at a special luncheon for women at the Standard Penthouse last week.

The room was awash with brilliant orange and blue accents and flowers on every table – emulating the stunning new double-wrap leather straps on the ultra feminine Petite Promesse watches. This is the new, smaller rendition of the highly successful Promesse collection the brand first unveiled to the world two years ago. The watch is a play on shapes, with a round inner dial within a subtle oval case. Varying degrees of diamonds on the bezel make the watch incredibly alluring.
The concept of Promesse – that promises matter and are important in our lives – has endeared many women around the world to the line.  Now, the new Petite Promesse, which had to be totally reconfigured to fit the smaller 22mm size with comfortable link bracelets and thins straps, promises to keep the demand rolling in.
The new 22mm size recalls the days when small watches, unusual shapes and elegant looks were all the rage. It also embraces the individualistic style of the 1970s with the three bold color choices. At once both delicate and fashion forward, the Petite Promesse collection features mother-of-pearl dials, diamond accents and a hidden crown. Setting is executed via a button on the caseback so that a crown does not mar the sleek elliptical case shape.

Baume et Mercier Petite Promesse with double-wrap blue strap

The Petite Promesse watches were first unveiled at the SIHH earlier this year, but are finally making their way to stores. They are offered with either a supple stainless steel link bracelet, a double wrap orange strap or a double-wrap blue strap. Each also comes with a single-wrap black strap. There are two versions offered, one with 22 diamonds on the case, and another with 44 diamonds. 
For the event, Baume & Mercier creative Design and Product Director Alexandre Peraldi flew in from Switzerland and made a stunning presentation. With storyboards that showed the design inspiration of the first Promesse, to the drawings, renderings and inspiration for the new Petite Promesse, Peraldi ignited enthusiasm for the pieces.
He even handed each attendee a tiny metal box, within which was a presentation of some of the sketches of Petite Promesse and an actual 3-D-printed watch case. As Peraldi explains, it took hundreds of sketches to get to the point where the 3-dimensional case design could be printed for final examination.

“We have three objectives in the design, comfort, comfort and comfort. Comfort on the wrist … comfort on the eyes and comfort of the wallet. The mission in the Petite Promesse was to go from 34 and 36mm to 22mm – and when you change the size of a watch it is not easy,” says Peraldi. “You are not just making a smaller case, you have to change much more …  the lugs, the way the straps attach – you have to redesign from the neck down, so to speak. It is very difficult, especially for the bracelet version, to make it so supple and moveable.”
In fact, the Petite Promesse bracelet feels like silk against the wrist and wraps beautifully around. Similarly, the double-wrap straps in bright orange and blue are comfortable and eye-catching.  It would seem then, at affordable prices ranging from $2,450 to $3,300, that Baume  & Mercier accomplishes its goals of comfort in the new Petite Promesse.

Baume et Mercier Petite Promesse duo

Throughout the luncheon, Peraldi also traced the brand’s incredible history in women’s watches and lightheartedly discussed the difficulties involved in making women’s watches today. “Women want something classic but also different … women like to wear big men’s watches, but also want something feminine and elegant … women want wonderful color but love black … women like the ease of quartz but also like automatic, so it is a challenge.” 
The luncheon capped with a florist teaching guests how to create an artistic floral arrangement – offering an array of blue and orange flowers to choose from in the making of their own take-home promise of spring. 

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David Chaumet