Introducing The Mido Baroncelli Signature Lady Colours Special Edition

Mido is one of many Swiss watchmakers founded in the inter-war years in the 20^th century. In fact, the company was founded on November 11^th, 1918 – the exact date of the armistice that ended World War I. The founder, Georges Schaeren, named Mido for the Spanish word “Mido,” meaning “measure.”

Within a few years, the brand had become famous for their colorful enameled women’s watches, with unique form factors and innovative strap designs. They also carved out a niche market manufacturing smaller men’s wristwatches.

In 1976, Mido would debut perhaps their most iconic watch, the Baroncelli. The Baroncelli is a small, elegant watch with a narrow bezel and a minimalist dial. And since 1976, Mido has released several variations in many colors and patterns.

The latest edition, the Baroncelli Signature Lady Colours, is a special edition watch that ships with five pastel-colored straps. I managed to get a sneak peek at this brand new timepiece – here are my impressions.

The Watch

The Baroncelli Signature Lady Colours has a circular stainless steel case. At 30mm wide and just 9mm thick, it has a small wrist presence. The lugs are correspondingly petite, with a spacing of just 15mm. The metal is polished rather than brushed, which makes it shine when it catches the light. Meanwhile, the bezel is very narrow, which leaves as much space as possible for the dial.

The sapphire crystal is flat, and doesn’t distort the dial like a curved crystal can. It’s treated with an anti-reflective coating on both sides, providing clear visibility under most lighting conditions. A similar crystal adorns the back, providing a view of the Mido Caliber 48 movement. This is an in-house variant of the base ETA C26.111 movement, which has a 48-hour power reserve. It’s also beautiful, with gold gears and decorative purple screws and lugs.

The dial is mother of pearl, with white, silver, and grey tones. It’s minimalist, with no numerals or subdials. The only complication is a date window at the 3 o’clock position. The window has tiny black Arabic numerals on a white background, and it’s bordered with a silver trim. The main index sports a set of diamonds at the 15-minute marks. The 5-minute marks are indicated by a set of fine silver hashes. The hands are silver and wide at the base, but taper to narrow tips. The second hand is more slender.

The Lady Colours watch is water-resistant to a depth of 50 meters. You can shower or swim with it, but otherwise it’s best to keep it out of the water. If anything goes wrong, you’ll be protected by Mido’s two-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Why “Lady Colours”?

What’s up with the term “Lady Colours”? This refers to the leather straps that come with the watch. You get five of them, with one each in pastel green, pink, grey, purple, and nude. The straps are designed to swap out easily without the need for any tools. They just snap into place, so you can swap to different colors as you desire.