HERMES – Cultivating Horology

French company Hermès offers more than leather goods and silk scarves. It has been making watches since 1929, and in the last four years it has been seriously upping its quality of mechanical horology.

WORLDTEMPUS -  27 March 2011

Kristian Haagen


“Hermes produces quality objects. We are an elegant and refined company that offers quality. We are not in luxury,” Hermès’s watch CEO, Luc Perramond, told Worldtempus during BaselWorld 2011. However, when asked to define luxury – which admittedly is a word abused by many companies looking to bake a lifestyle cake – he quoted Emile Hermès, “True luxury is something you can repair; something that will last.”

Hermes Time Suspended comes with a black or silvered opaline dial. The black dial only comes on the steel version. © Worldtempus / Kristian Haagen

Certainly a Birkin bag or a fifty-year-old leather saddle can be repaired, but so can Hermès’ watches, which have taken a radical turn toward mechanical movements rather than solely quartz. This is obviously propagated to the company’s 25 percent stake in Swiss movement maker Vaucher, which also produces movements for Richard Mille and Parmigiani. The latter also happens to use leather straps made by Hermès. When asked if the company also provides straps for Patek Philippe, Perramond replied: ”We don't supply straps for Patek Philippe, but we certainly would love to.”

Impressive pedigree

”We are in the midst of developing our own caliber and hopefully we can present this in 2012,” Perramond revealed as he flipped through a catalogue from acclaimed French auction house Artcurial, who in 2007 held an auction dedicated to four decades of Hermès timepieces dating from the 1920-40s called “Un Siècle D'Horlogerie Hermés.”

The auction catalogue shows timepieces fitted with movements by such illustrious companies as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Tavannes, CYMA, Audemars Piguet, Baume & Mercier and Universal, proving the impressive horological history that certainly justifies the mechanical direction that the French family-owned company aims for.

The three hands together offer a unique retrograde function, with the central hands moving along a 360-degree retrograde. © Worldtempus / Kristian Haagen

Poetic timepiece

One of the new horological products this year is the amazing and somewhat poetic Arceau Time Suspended. A striking watch indeed, but also a watch that offers a rather different approach to time. When pressing the button on the left side of the watch case, the retrograde date hand magically disappears and the hour and minute hand jumps to an indefinable time. This way time stands still, but the mechanical movement still ticks away, which means that the current time will reappear when the same button is once again pressed. This occurs thanks to a double column wheel construction that allows instantaneous alternation between suspended and real time.

When the left button is pressed, the central hands rush to an indefinable 12 o’clock-ish position and the date magically disappears. © Worldtempus / Kristian Haagen

“With the time and date hands suspended, you won’t have to stress about time running out during a nice dinner with friends or holidays coming to an end,” Perramond smiled as he introduced the rather non-traditional functions of the novel watch.

100 percent Swiss made

“That truly is quality time,” Perramond says, of the 43-millimeter watch, which is 100 percent Swiss made. Arceau Hermès Time Suspended – boasting the typical Hermès hinged shoulder design – contains three retrograde functions: one for each of the three hands, two of which (the central hands) actually offer a 360-degree retrograde – a world first thanks to retrograde specialist watchmaker Jean-Marc Wiederrecht of Agenhor.

Hermès Arceau Time Suspended is offered in stainless steel and in a limited gold edition of 174 pieces celebrating the French company’s 174th anniversary.