Our commitments

As a luxury brand whose fundamental identity revolves around values of authenticity and accessibility, Baume & Mercier’s core emotional qualities are based on cherishing life’s most important moments and memories. The practice of high ethical standards is an essential aspect of Baume & Mercier’s corporate identity. We take pride in our responsible business practices, rooted in social responsibility and the ethical use of natural resources.

Our Sustainability Strategy is based on:

1. Ethical Business Practices
2. Supply Chain and Environment
3. Long-term Community Partnerships and Employee Engagement
4. Accessibility

If you do not find the information you are looking for below please Contact Us, we do not communicate about all our sustainability projects.

As a member of the Richemont Group, we respect Richemont Responsible Business Practices and communicate through the Richemont Annual CSR Report.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Baume & Mercier is now on the second version of its Code of Business Conduct: a document signed with its employees and principal industrial and trade marketing suppliers. These codes set out the standards of business ethical behaviour that are to be respected and which should be the basis of our business decisions. The code describes our commitments towards different key business integrity issues such as equal employment opportunity, health and safety standards, ethical business practices, the integrity of working relations and the respect of the environment.

As part of the implementation of this Code, our suppliers have confirmed to us that no area of divergence between their operations and the requirements of the Code has been identified and that they have shared these expectations with their own employees.

GOLD AND DIAMONDS: 

The practice of high ethical standards is an essential aspect of Baume & Mercier’s corporate identity. We take pride in our responsible business practices, rooted in social responsibility and the ethical use of natural resources. 

Certified Member of The Responsible Jewellery Council:

The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) is a non-profit organization founded in 2005. 

Its mission is to promote responsible, ethical, social, and environmental practices with respect for Human Rights across the entire supply chain. This applies to jewellery and watchmaking, and more specifically to Gold, Silver, Platinum group metals, Diamonds and colored gemstones, from mining to retailing.

In this context, we apply the principles described in the Code of Practice in accordance with our Corporate policy and our Supply Chain Policy,  we publish our due diligence performance in our annual report.  Baume et Mercier; is one of the 1200 RJC organization members and received its certification in 2011.

Read more information about the CSR policy at Richemont

Kimberly Process certification Scheme

The Kimberley process is an international certification scheme for rough diamonds uniting governments and companies involved in the industry and aimed at avoiding the use of “conflict/blood diamonds” by rebel groups to finance their military activities. Baume & Mercier uniquely purchased diamonds which originate from a country who applies the Kimberley Process.

Baume & Mercier respects the associated World Diamond Council System of Warranties, which applies to rough and polished diamonds, and all our invoices carry the obligatory warranty statement. We purchase uniquely from diamond suppliers who also respect the system, in order to ensure that all our diamonds are from a legitimate source.

EXOTIC SKINS:

Existing skins and exploring new sustainable options 

Baume and Mercier only uses leathers that respect the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES is an international agreement between governments which aims to ensure that international trade in selected species of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. For Baume & Mercier this principally concerns the commercialization of watches equipped with alligator straps.

In order to give the most sustainable options to our clients, we also investigate new and different types of straps that can meet demand while staying sustainable. One such strap is the Banka Leather Strap made with trout skins. Banka Leather Straps are made with a partner in France and are an innovative approach as trout is a non-traditional skin and its use avoids the use of a protected or endangered species. Trouts are already killed for food and the byproduct skin holds beautiful dyes particularly well. Using land based aquaculture to raise the trout ensures no negative farming or overfishing impacts on the ocean.

ENVIRONMENT:

At our Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, we have integrated projects into the building that ensure energy consumption and emissions are reduce to a minimum. For example:

- All lightbulbs are LED and the building is equipped with movement detectors that turn off the lights when there are no employees present and a system to automatically open the blinds when we can maximize sunlight

- The building is equipped with heat pumps and geothermal probes to maximize heat exchange

- We are equipped with a condensation boiler and use free-cooling

As for commuting emissions, Baume & Mercier provides employees with free annual public transport passes in Geneva, participation to bike purchase and maintenance, train passes and benefits to any employees who carpool.

There are always emissions that cannot be eliminated, therefore, we always offset our emissions through the purchase of carbon credits. For more information.

Partnership: Waste Free Ocean and SEAQUAL

We are a proud partner of Waste Free Ocean and SEAQUAL, and we offer our contribution to preserve the Oceans and up-cycle the collected waste material.

We support the Central Saint Martins of London, to identify the future of new sustainable material; and implement them in the new collections.

Employee engagement

Every company is only as good as its people, and luckily at Baume & Mercier we have a conscious, motivated and enthusiastic team who bring life and ideas to all topics.

As a member of the Richemont Group, we respect Richemont Responsible Business Practices and communicate through the Richemont Annual CSR Report.

To facilitate the use for people with disabilities, Baume & Mercier implements accessibility features to improve navigation for screen reader users, keyboard navigation and text-only browsers. Thus all users can access our content without difficulty. This fits into the group’s general policy in favor of diversity.

FEATURES AVAILABLE ON www.baume-et-mercier.com

1. The main logo 

On every page, a single click on the Baume et Mercier logo leads back to the home page of the www.baume-et-mercier.com website.

2. Main menu

The main menu is a mouse-over menu which can be controlled by the mouse, the keyboard or with the fingers on a touch screen. The main menu in the left hand column, or on the top (homepage), lets you access the headings and main pages of the www.baume-et-mercier.com website.

3. Functionalities offered by your browser

As well as the aids made available directly on the www.baume-et-mercier .com website, the site has been designed so as to allow your browser to make the most of its own functionalities.

4. Increasing character size

It is not always easy to read text on the screen. A default size is defined for each text on the website, but you have the possibility of increasing the size of the characters.

5. Keyboard navigation 

The www.baume-et-mercier.com website is currently redesigned so as to all keyboard navigation on all pages. In most cases, the Tab key is all you need to sequence through the clickable elements in the page. And if you want to work backwards through the sequence you can use the key combination Shift + Tab.

6. Conformity of the www.baume-et-mercier.com website with WCAG 2.0

Throughout the stages of design, creation and updating of the www.jaeger-lecoultre.com website, the owner of the website is working to comply with good accessibility practices by the W3C in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) 

The owner of www.baume-et-mercier.com continues to improve the accessibility of its digital communication platforms. Nevertheless, if you come across a problem when navigating or accessing certain content on www.baume-et-mercier.com, feel free to contact us giving as much detail as possible about your situation and the problem encountered, so that we can find a solution together.

Currently the website is compliant on the following aspects: 

- All fields are reachable for assistive technology by having specific names, tags or labels; so that www.baume-et-mercier.com is accessible and legible to specific tools

-  Despite all the attention that we were able to bring the user experience of our website, if you encounter difficulties in using it, thank you to contact us by using the contact means listed below.

7. Contact us

To contact us by the online form, simply go to the contact page