Baume & Mercier expresses watchmaking excellence in all its creations and through a simple, consistent motto devised by its founders: ”Accept only perfection, only manufacture watches of the highest quality”.
This iconic Swiss brand with a rich history that began in 1830 pursues its engagement in the realm of the Celebration by revealing another facet of its “Life is about moments” signature.
For Baume & Mercier, time is far more than a succession of seconds, minutes and hours: time is marked by rare moments with which the brand associates, like a living witness. Life is made of these special, solemn, exceptional moments filled with emotion, that we enjoy celebrating and that we remember forever.
Baume & Mercier envisions watches as “gifts that contain feelings”. In 1869, Louis‐Victor Baume, co‐founder of the Maison Baume in 1830, thus gave a richly decorated gold pocket watch to his daughter, Mélina, for her first communion, with the following words engraved on it: “To our beloved child”.
Baume & Mercier invites us to remember all celebrations and to carry them within ourselves, in the same way one wears a cherished object.
And to turn these emotions into images, both intimate and universal, one could dream of no better artist than Peter Lindbergh, with his sensitive and distinctly cinematographic touch through careful composition with purely emotional truth.
1. Celebrating commitment
A loving commitment is captured like a stolen moment of affection that is both discreet and solemn. Sheltered from prying eyes, the couple, forgetful of the lens pointing at them, is wrapped up body and soul in the promise that unites them.
2. Celebrating a wedding
Here, the joy of marriage is snapped from a car window. The picture gives the person looking at it a sense of being both witness and actor. During this moment of extreme emotional intensity, the photographer brings out with great sincerity the unique joy shared between two beings who love each other.
3. Celebrating a birth
The maternal bond is captured, with simplicity and clarity, in an instinctive, natural gesture: a mother cuddling the child that she already loves and is holding in her arms. Bathed in summer light, the delicacy of this skin on skin experience records this moment in the universal story of life and maternal love.
4. Celebrating a personal achievement
The image expresses the individual pleasure of a moment of freedom. The smile of a man driving an exceptional car, his face turned towards the light. It is a man who has a fulfilled life, who has experienced successes and encounters, a man who knows the value of all things.
5. Celebrating a birthday
The big Three Zero has been reached. This is a perfect occasion to bring one’s special friends together and mark the passing with a special occasion. A moment to reflect spontaneity and shared friendship around a man brimming with happiness.
6. Celebrating Christmas
In approaching the emotion‐filled period of the end of year festivities, Peter Lindbergh has opted for intimacy and restraint. A couple giving each other a joint gift without any onlookers. All the intensity of the moment and their relationship is perceptible in this image.
For each of these stories, the photographer makes himself invisible and celebrates the sparkle of these moments in life. He captures the high point in a relationship and simultaneously tells the story of the occasion for the gift, the intensity of the ties binding us to those we love.
