Introducing the Mido Baroncelli Midnight Blue

There are a few things that should be immediately clear with today’s Mido announcement: I like blue watches, and I am fond of the Baroncelli lineup (you can see my last hands-on here). While normally we might give things a sort of “meh” shoulder shrug when it’s a new dial color coming in, today, there’s nothing meh about the Mido Baroncelli Midnight Blue.

Another thing that is immediately apparent – if not by the styling then by the spec sheet – is that the Mido Baroncelli Midnight Blue is intended to be a dress watch. What I rather like about this addition to the catalog is that we’ve not only got two color palettes in the mix (steel or rose gold), you’ve got two different case sizes – 29mm and 38mm. AKA, his-and-hers. And, for the smaller variant, you get some diamonds tucked onto the dial as well.

Now, yes, diamonds on the dial of a smaller watch seem sort of a cheap-out route to go, in terms of making a lady-specific design, but here I somehow like it. It’s a little bit more than just shrinking down a a design to a smaller size (which also brought a different movement into the mix; check out the specs below).

While I do appreciate the rose gold PVD on the leather strap, it’s the steel models that are the start of the show for me. And, as a matter of fact, those omit the diamonds, and really does present the watch as a smaller version of the (ostensibly) male-oriented version. So, there you go, you’ve got your choice of how to mix and match these, I suppose. For the steel versions of the Mido Baroncelli Midnight Blue, those come in at $870 while the rose-gold versions command $910 and $1,140.

Watch Overview

• Brand & Model: Mido Baroncelli Midnight Blue
• Price: steel, $870; M76003658: $1,140/ M86003158: $910
• Who’s it for? 
• Would I wear it?
• What I’d change:
• The best thing about it:

Tech Specs from Mido

• References: M7600.3.65.8 + M8600.3.15.8
• Movement
  • M7600.3.65.8:
    • Automatic ETA 2671, 73?4 ’’’, Ø17.20 mm, height: 4.80 mm, 25 jewels, 28,800 vph.
    • Finely decorated Elaboré-grade movement, oscillating weight decorated with Geneva stripes and Mido logo.
    • Functions: HMSD.
    • Adjusted on 3 different positions for high accuracy.
    • Up to 38 hours of power reserve.
  • M8600.3.15.8:
    • Automatic Mido Caliber 80 (ETA C07.611 base), 111?2’’’, Ø25.60 mm, height: 4.74 mm, 25 jewels, 21,600 vph.
    • Finely decorated Elaboré-grade movement, oscillating weight decorated with Geneva stripes and Mido logo.
    • Functions: HMSD.
    • Adjusted on 3 different positions for high accuracy.
    • Up to 80 hours of power reserve.
• Case : Polished 316L stainless steel with rose gold PVD treatment, Ø29 or 38 mm, 3 parts, sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective treatment on both sides, finely decorated Elaboré-grade movement visible through the transparent case back, engraved serial number, water-resistant to a pressure of 5 bars (50 m / 165 ft).
• Strap : Brown semi-matt crocodile-look genuine cow leather, folding clasp in 316L stainless steel with rose gold PVD treatment.
• Dial
  • M7600.3.65.8: Sunray satin-finished midnight blue, set with twelve diamonds (total of 0.078 carats), date between 4 and 5 o’clock.
  • M8600.3.15.8: Sunray satin-finished midnight blue, polished applied indexes with rose gold PVD treatment, date between 4 and 5 o’clock.
• Hands :
  • Faceted dauphine-style hour and minute hands.
  • Flat diamond-cut central seconds hand.