Baume & Mercier is spearheading the event by hosting the first European Shelby Only gathering featuring authentic Shelby American cars at the famous Castellet racetrack in southern France. The Geneva-based watchmaker is carrying on the legend of the iconic Cobra car and its expert drivers. Car racing and fine watchmaking hold many of the same values. For an entire day, Baume & Mercier is setting the stage for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Start your engines!

THE AMAZING COBRA EVENT HITS THE ROAD

Baume & Mercier is hosting Europe’s first gathering of Shelby Only cars at the Castellet racetrack in partnership with Carroll Shelby International, Inc. and Geneva-based atelier Burgol Racing, the leading specialist in these racing beauties.

What’s the idea? Invite Cobra collectors to come together for a day of racing on the legendary racetrack to relive the high-spirited heyday of car racing and experience the adrenaline rush that Cobra drivers, the real pioneers of speed, must have felt. It is also a unique opportunity for them to spruce up their cars for the 2016 season. A wealth of thrilling moments full of unforgettable emotion, passion and mutual joy, true to the Baume & Mercier slogan, «Life is about Moments.»

A rare chance to meet legendary drivers like Allen Grant as well as Cobra collectors, and to talk with the Baume & Mercier team members who share the same love for racing and design.

All in all, it is an exclusive once-in-a-lifetime racetrack experience worthy of bringing all these people together in one place.

THE PASSION FOR WATCHMAKING AND FINE RACING MECHANICS BROUGHT TOGETHER BY ONE MAN: CARROLL SHELBY

Risk-taking, determination… racers in the 1960s rushed to the racetracks propelled by a genuine winning spirit. Carroll Shelby was one of them. Not only was he a famous driver as proven by his many victories, but he was also the visionary maker of the Cobra.

It is that same spirit of winning, community and teamwork that is now motivating Baume & Mercier and Carroll Shelby International, Inc. to come together at the Paul Ricard racetrack.

First, there’s the power of a mechanical engine. The speed that’s measured and gauged by a chronograph. There’s also the beauty of how a driver moves, like the exquisite dexterity of a master watchmaker. Then, there’s the quest for performance. Beating a speed record on the racetrack and trying, again and again, to improve the time – just like watchmakers on a quest for perfection.

Next comes precision. A personal or team victory cannot happen without it on the racetrack. A watch’s tachymeter is the essential teammate for keeping time on the track and can make or break a victory. From historic timepieces to modern collections, all of the Baume & Mercier watches have been faithful companions at these celebrations, like the accomplishments of the heroic Cobra drivers in the 1960s.

THE POWER OF COBRA

The new Capeland Shelby Cobra 1963 chronographs were designed for people who know the value of endurance and taste for risk, a veritable watchmaker anthem to always doing better. Racing, passion, success, endurance, team spirit and a tribute to the Cobra CSX2128, that legendary race car that is still the stuff of dreams. They embody the Cobra’s character and force, a symbol cherished by Carroll Shelby stamped on the chronograph’s counterweight hand.

The hour and minute hands were also designed to look like a racing wheel. Whether it is the 44 mm case in polished satin-finished steel or the all-steel version with its black ADLC coating, the timepiece produces an intense impression of power. These two unique chronographs are available with a black alligator strap with a yellow rubberized calfskin lining or a black vulcanized rubber strap, both fastened by a triple folding buckle with safety catches. This second strap is made from the same material as the wheels of the race car.