Why Baume & Mercier Deserves Better

INSPIRED BY Pierre Soulages’s Peinture 1986, Polyptyque I Edition from the series Outrenoirs, Baume & Mercier reveals its second unique timepiece, the Hampton Polyptyque Edition — Musée Soulages 10th Anniversary, paying tribute to the artist.

- JONATHAN HO

Featuring a dial modelled on Peinture, the dial reproduces the aesthetic signature of the French abstractionist, layering different textures of black, to reveal shiny, matte, powdery, dull, slick, striated, polished, and even sharp-edged effects.

Soulages brought attention to the quality of the light reflected off the black surfaces by creating effects through the shaping of texture of the paint with various tools and brushes, cutting into the black texture of acrylic to alternate matte and shine, texture and smoothness in low-relief.