The New Merci Instruments Beaumarchais Collection

A decade ago, Arthur Gerbi, founder of the Merci concept store at 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris, introduced the first watch under the Merci Instruments name. Like John Mayer at the time, he felt that traditional watchmaking houses no longer adequately accounted for the expectations of true enthusiasts. The watches under the Merci Instruments brand served as affordable alternatives. He took more risks with the designs, made them divisive, and received widespread praise, especially from watch enthusiasts. To celebrate this 10th anniversary, Gerbi is introducing the Merci Instruments Beaumarchais collection, consisting of six new watches.

Don’t worry; at €470, they’re still as affordable as before, but the no-nonsense field-watch case is replaced by a more daring, angular, and faceted one. The dials also received their fair share of changes and look more elaborate than ever before. Now, let’s take a look at the bold new Beaumarchais collection from Merci Instruments.

The Merci Instruments Beaumarchais collection

As mentioned, six watches make up this new line. They all share the same angular, faceted, brushed, and polished 36mm stainless steel case. On top of it sits an octagonal bezel with brushed and polished finishes, encircling a flat sapphire crystal. The case has a 10mm profile and a 45mm lug-to-lug span. You could say, then, that its dimensions are similar to those of a dress watch. However, the sharp angles and facets make it look much sportier than its measurements suggest.

Previous Merci Instruments watches often featured a hand-wound movement inside. The Baumarchais collection, though, houses the automatic Miyota 9039. It runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour, features 24 jewels, and has a power reserve of 42 hours. But its most important feature is the self-winding rotor, so you don’t have to wind your watch every day. All right, now let’s take a look at the six available dials.

Æon Blue

Let’s start with my favorite, the Æon Blue. The dial’s base is matte navy blue, while the octagonal center is faded light blue with a slight texture. A full set of Arabic-numeral hour markers surrounds the center. These white numbers are made of a luminous material, add a nice 3D effect, and match nicely with the matte white hands. Surrounding the dial, as on most models, is a concentric-grained silver chapter ring. The Æon Blue variant, in my eyes, is the most playful one of the bunch, and it reminds me of Merci Instruments’ field watches.

Cosmora

The green Cosmora is my second favorite of them all. The dial features a matte green base and, like the Æon Blue variant, a faded, textured center. This time, however, it’s not octagonal but round. Instead of numerals, the Cosmora features classic applied indexes that match the polished set of hands. Again, the silver chapter ring with the concentric-grained motif holds it all together nicely. I love the Cosmora because of the specific green shade chosen. It’s somewhere between dark and light green, and it makes me think of the nice smell of pine trees.

Singularis

The Singularis features the obligatory black dial of the collection; however, with its star-shaped indexes, it’s certainly not as standard as most black-dial watches. Just like in the previous two versions, the center of the dial is slightly raised, but here, it has the same matte finish and color as the surrounding base. The polished hands are sometimes a bit difficult to see against the black background, but a slight arm movement will quickly fix that. Also, the stars are a bit much for me, but they do look good against the night-sky-like dial.

Horae

Next comes the Horae. This version has a dial with a vertically brushed base and a raised matte white center. It features applied diamond-shaped indexes, and as a finishing touch, there’s a blued seconds hand. Also, notice that the minute track is dark gray here, rather than silver on the other versions. I like the Horae quite a bit, as the brushed dial plays nicely with the light. However, if I were to go for a silver-dial Beaumarchais, it would most definitely be the next one.

Auguste

The Auguste’s dial also has a brushed base, but this one is circularly brushed, and it has fat Roman numerals in black lacquer on top. Instead of the Horae’s polished hour and minute hands, the Auguste comes with brushed hands. The blue seconds hand is still there, though. This might be the most classic version of them all, but it works very well with that angular, faceted case.

Æther

Finally, there’s the Æther. This version has the same star-shaped indexes as the Singularis, but at 12, it also features the Merci Instruments logo. The dial’s base color is very dark blue, and the raised center is slightly lighter. Together with the dark blue Horween leather strap, it looks very sophisticated. Still, I’m not such a fan of the stars on the dial, so I’ll stick with the Æon Blue.

Which one’s your favorite?

You might’ve already noticed it throughout this article, but I’m a fan of the new Merci Instruments Beaumarchais collection. Even though all six versions share the same case, the dials are so different that the character of the watches changes completely from one version to another. The angular, faceted case reminded me a bit of King Seiko, which isn’t a bad thing at all, and the dials each have a distinct character. I also like the fact that there’s now an automatic movement inside these watches. I know hand-wound watches are often seen as ideal for enthusiasts, but I also enjoy the convenience of not having to wind my watch.

In conclusion, I can totally see myself walking into the Merci concept store, something I always try to do when I’m in Paris, and picking up one of the watches from the Beaumarchais collection. They’re fun and distinctive, and each has a different look.

Let me know in the comments below what you think of the new Merci Instruments Beaumarchais collection. Which one would you pick as your favorite?