A few months ago, Bohen showed us his first trailer, an over-built and flawless luxury diver called Mille-Mer. Mille-Mer combines high-end specifications and sturdy packaging (including 1000-meter water resistance), and promises to have extraordinary value in a sturdy and sophisticated luxury diving watch. After some final adjustments and additions to ensure that the watch meets Bohen's strict standards (all photos shown here are final products), Mille-Mer is now in production and ready to order.

The reaction to Bohen's initial announcement of Mille-Mer was overwhelming, but the watch is not yet ready to be released to the world. Blaise-Dominique Giuliani, the founder and designer of the brand, believes that before the watch reaches the customer's wrist, there are still some changes that can make the watch better. Blaise-Dominique was not surprised by these strict standards. As a veteran in the field of luxury goods, he has worked in high-end design and high-end fashion for decades, and he is famous for designing watches that are too expensive to manufacture. In fact, it was this frustration—his vision was limited by practicality—that prompted him to launch the Bohen watch.

The goal of creating Mille-Mer is to produce a sturdy and durable diving watch that can match the fit, surface treatment and function of watches such as Rolex Sea-Dweller, with a clear French design spirit, and the price is only a small part of it. . Bohen hopes that this masculine and bold watch can tell its capabilities even at a glance, and this is what it does. If you like cars, it is easy to compare them with Aston Martin: elegant, sporty and full of exclusive details.

With a diameter of 43 mm and a case height of 17.5 mm, this is not a compact formal watch. This is a specially built luxury diver. However, although these sizes look large on paper, by mixing steel and titanium, the wear of this watch is lighter than the recommended size, and because of the sufficient curvature on the case, it is easy to fit better. Small wrists, such as Blaise-Dominique’s own 6.8 inch (17.3 cm) wrist. Blaise-Dominique described why he did not produce another uniform diver with a saturated market, unequivocally said: "Mille-Mer is a highly technical tool. In this context, it is not the watch that adapts to the owner. It’s that the owner has adapted to the watch. I didn’t create Bohen to please everyone — I just need to satisfy those who appreciate my approach between elegance and technology.”

The Bohen Mille-Mer watch case is made of 316L stainless steel, and the bottom cover is made of grade 5 titanium. The addition of the titanium bottom cover is a small and challenging addition to the structure of the work, and most brands will never consider it only due to the increased cost and complexity. But it is a small detail that distinguishes a good watch from a good watch. For example, the crown at 12 o'clock ensures that there are no pressure points from the crown on the wrist and allows 43 mm watches to be worn comfortably on a wider range of wrist sizes.

To complete some of the technical specifications, Bohen equipped Mille-Mer with a helium escape valve, a ceramic bezel, and a sapphire crystal from a Japanese manufacturer that produces lenses for satellites. Of course, Bohen can choose Swiss crystal (this watch has far exceeded the requirements of the Swiss-made name), but the goal is to create a watch with the best possible components, regardless of increased costs. For example: a date magnifier fixed on a flat crystal is a simple solution, but Bohen insists on using a double domed sapphire crystal. Therefore, in order to add a date magnifying glass, Bohen proposed an elegant and practical solution, creating a double bridge between the crystal and the hands (a patent of Bohen's invention).

The dial on the Mille-Mer is designed to create depth and texture. The indented jet black dial is offset by larger marks and hands, which have strong lines and a unified design language. The result is a complex, eye-catching and extremely clear dial. Moreover, in order to ensure readability under any light conditions, Bohen chose the strongest lumen on the market: Super-LumiNova X1 grade with a concentrated gel formula.

Instead of choosing ETA or Sellita movements, Bohen chose to equip the Mille-Mer with the Swiss Soprod M100 automatic movement, which was modified according to Bohen’s precise specifications, including rhodium plating to harden the metal in the movement, high anti-magnetic properties (including anti-magnetic Cage) and ample decoration, including the Pearl Bridge and Geneva corrugated rotor. This is a beautiful movement, even if you can't see it through the titanium bottom cover. More importantly, it is very accurate and has passed the Chronofiable A8 standard of Du Bois Laboratories. In other words, you can get an accuracy of /4 seconds/day and a power reserve of 42 hours. As Blaise-Dominique said, "Bohen is refined in the smallest details, even the invisible."

Mille-Mer is equipped with a tapered stainless steel trapezoidal bracelet, which contrasts with the brushed and polished surface of the case. Bracelets are another example of Blaise-Dominique's perfectionism-although the later prototypes are very well made, they are not perfect. By adding 8 grams to the strap, Bohen was able to balance the weight of the watch head and create symmetry on the wrist. Unlike traditional spring bars, Bohen also switched to a button system, which allows the strap to be replaced without tools. In addition to these small improvements, Bohen has redesigned the engraved ratchet buckle (patent pending), which can easily and easily adjust the fit without tools.

Relying on its extensive experience in cooperating with many top brands in the luxury goods industry, Blaise-Dominique is able to subcontract Mille-Mer's production to Swiss manufacturing partners who produce parts for top Swiss brands. However, he is determined to keep prices within reach and avoid the exaggerated price increases found elsewhere in the industry. As Blaise-Dominique explained, “Our watches are manufactured at the same cost and each component embodies excellence. There is absolutely no compromise in terms of quality. For example, the scales of our ultra-deep dials are not molded but machined. The result is even better. Sharp, like diamond-cut pieces. In order to make 500 perfect dials, we need to process 750 sets of time scales and discard 250 sets of surface treatment expectations that do not meet our requirements."

So, how does Bohen manage to keep prices within reach? It's simple: the brand is setting a profit margin of x1.66 for the launch price. In other words, the brand maintains complete pricing transparency-the price you pay is 66% higher than the manufacturing price. From the point of view of this figure, if you are looking at a watch from a major Swiss brand, a 400-500% markup is very common. With Bohen Mille-Mer, you can get a truly luxurious diving watch with its own unique design language at a more affordable price.

Since accepting pre-orders a few weeks ago, Bohen’s sales have surged, with one third of the first 500 watches produced. If you are interested in Bohen Mille-Mer, start accepting pre-orders now, and the watch will be delivered in March 2022. The launch price is set at 1,659 euros (excluding tax); to book Mille-Mer and learn more about Bohen, please visit the brand's website. If you have any questions about watches or brands, Blaise-Dominique would be happy to talk to you. Just send him an email on the website, and if you want to talk about Bohen and Mille-Mer, he will get in touch with you and even share his phone number.

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