When you stepped into the Hermès booth at Watches and Wonders, time felt fluid.
It showed up as movement. It showed up as play. With shifting wooden structures, pulleys and counterweights, the immersive booth created by French artist Jean-Simon Roch was all about internal mechanics, open construction, transparency and mystery. Time, essentially, became an experience for the senses.
There were similar themes running through the Hermès watch novelties unveiled in Geneva. The French luxury giant explored the idea of ‘Mystery Mechanisms’; using the movement structure as a constantly changing backdrop, where attention travelled between light and shade, transparency and depth.
The art of skeletonisation, a major theme this year, was transformed into a language that shaped the Hermès H08 watch, found a new expression in the Arceau Samarcande watch and took centre stage in the latest iteration of the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune.
The Hermès H08 Squelette, the first skeletonised version of the H08 collection, merges sport, shape and style spectacularly. Housed inside a 39 mm-diameter satin-brushed titanium case, the intricate mechanical workings of the watch appear architectural and clean. It’s the same mechanism that guides you to the core of the new Hermès H1978 S skeletonised titanium calibre, where interlocked and overlapping components keep you hooked.
The original H08 debuted at Watches and Wonders 2021 and immediately caught the interest of the watch community for its distinctive case design. It was neither round, nor square. Many called it one of the most interesting watches of the past decade.
The Squelette takes that design a step further by integrating the movement as part of the dial. Developed with Swiss manufacturer Vaucher, the mechanical, self-winding movement has 168 components and promises a power reserve of 60 hours.
“The watch brings an innovation through the skeleton movement. You are looking at a watch which is technical. You’re not looking at a skeleton which is cut like a plant or a vegetable. It’s structured, it’s geometrical,” says Philippe Delhotal, creative director of Hermès Horloger, during an interview with Esquire India. “With the H08, we wanted to introduce the skeleton in such a way that was well integrated into the case. We wanted the movement to be part and parcel of the aesthetics of the whole watch and the way it looks."
While the H08 Squelette screams “luxury sports watch”, the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune is a more elegant candidate on the wrist. Delhotal designed the Slim D’Hermès range back in 2015 to introduce a men’s watch that was streamlined and had finesse. Down the years, it was imagined in different complications, including a GMT and a perpetual calendar. The dial is more airy and features an ultra-thin skeleton. Delhotal says the skeleton has its rightful place in this watch too. “Above all, it is visual lightness,” he adds.
Powered by the H1953 movement, it follows the lunar cycle from the Northern and Southern hemispheres and comes in two new creative expressions: vert d’eau (pale green) or blue. Apart from these updated colour treatments, the watch’s 39.5 mm case now comes in DLC-treated titanium and platinum.
Another striking feature on the Squelette Lune is the double moonphase complication at 6 o’clock. The moon appears visually inverted depending on which hemisphere you are in.
There’s a poetic visual contrast between the geometric architecture above and the floating celestial window below.
“It’s not a grand complication,” says Delhotal. “Skeletonised watches are quite lonely. We wanted to bring a bit of fantasy, something fun, something that would bring another visual on the watch. It’s true that moons are always aesthetically very beautiful and offer something slightly different.
Either way, both the Hermès H08 Squelette and the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune would bring something distinct to a collection. As Delhotal notes, the strong response from enthusiasts and critics alike re ects the brand’s growing momentum in watchmaking.
“I often say that watches are objects of curiosity,” he says. “I find that you feel like looking at it [H08 Squelette] for a longer time than a traditional watch. There are more things to say about it. There’s curiosity but also discovery.”