It’s the French, not the Swiss, that are leading the field in creative watchmaking at the moment – and Hermès is right out in front, says Timothy Barber.
You might assume that Hermès, a company famous for its handbags and silk ties, would be worth little consideration in the world of fine watches – but you’d be wrong. Against the pomp and seriousness oozing out of the biggest Swiss brands, the well-made horological offerings from the ne plus ultra of French luxury can seem like blessed relief, bringing lightness, gentle eccentricity and oodles of style, without being overly demanding of your attention.
Watches such as the H-shaped Cape Cod, or the round Arceau, the jaunty numerals of which “dance” around the dial at tilted angles, are like snippets of whimsical Gallic art-house compared with the drawn-out epics of Switzerland’s grandes maisons.
Then, 18 months ago something unexpected happened – Hermès unleashed an actual, bona fide classic. If not a life changer, then definitely a game changer; in fact, it unleashed two.
The watch is called the Slim d’Hermès, and its look is as understated as its name: this is a thin, round watch, and there’s nothing original about that. But look closer and you will see what a neatly cultured piece of design the “Slim d” really is.
It’s all down to the numbers: Hermès engaged the services of Parisian graphic designer Philippe Apeloig, who dreamt up a stencil-style typography for the hour numerals, which sit within a dial design of utmost purity and precision. The effect is a watch that has the poise and elegance of something you’d wear with a tux, but also lightness and levity. In other words, it is chic in the extreme, with an ambience that is quintessentially Parisian rather than Swiss.
The Slim d’Hermès is not just a design triumph, however. Hermès, which owns a stake in an independent Swiss watch manufactory named Vaucher, developed an entirely new, slimline movement for it, and it’s a high-spec bit of kit – those preoccupied with such things can marvel at the micro winding rotor embedded in the body of movement, making it much thinner than movements in which the rotor sits on top. It makes the watch something of a steal at £4,750 for the steel version.
To seal the deal, Hermès also unveiled a perpetual calendar version. The brand’s previous forays into complicated haute horlogerie have seen it invent playful complications that were a bit too esoteric to be taken seriously; this, however, is a heavyweight piece of craft. Not that it seems it, so airy is its aesthetic – with one of the thinnest perpetual calendar movements ever constructed. Awards have, quite rightly, rained down upon it.
The years of Hermès dipping its toe into the waters of serious watchmaking appear to be over. With the Slim d’Hermès, it took the plunge in a masterful way, and this year has seen further versions with blue or slate grey dials, and a fabulous gold variant with a dial of glossy white enamel.
As it happens, Hermès hasn’t been the only Parisian power player cooking up interesting horological dishes of late. Chanel, whose jewellery watches and ceramic women’s models are much admired, is launching a concerted assault on the men’s market with a watch prosaically called the Monsieur.
There’s nothing prosaic about the watch itself – a stylish, tremendously refined “jumping hours” number that displays the hours through a window in the dial, while the minute hand sweeps in a retrograde arc above. The complex, sumptuous movement was devised with the help of watchmaking genius Romain Gauthier, whose groundbreaking business is now partly owned by Chanel.
Then there’s Louis Vuitton, which for several years has had a considerably more outré attitude to its watches than Chanel or Hermès. The new Voyager line of travel watches is a sassy exercise in luxury style, in particular its unusual, satisfyingly tactile case-shape. The skeletonised tourbillon version must be one of the most stunningly realised top-tier watches of 2016, and is the first fruits of a new Geneva factory dedicated to in-house fine watchmaking.
There used to be plenty of sniffiness over the watch offerings of such brands. Right now, however, watchmaking’s creative frontline is being set by French makers of handbags, perfume and luggage. What that says about the watch industry I’m not sure, but for now, vive la différence!
Timothy Barber is The Telegraph’s watch editor.
