Playing with Time

The recent release of La Montre Hermes’ pocket watches harks back to its unique brand philosophy.

A capricious, cavalier attitude to time and its progress encapsulates the design philosophy of La Montre Hermes’s pocket watches.

“The day you think you are important, you are lost.”

After two decades into his multifaceted career at Hermes, Laurent Dordet is clear about one thing: “The company has a living culture where the meaning of life is shared by everyone working there.” Dordet has seen Hermes through its finance, textile and leather divisions prior to assuming the top job as CEO of its timepiece division La Montre Hermes. “There is so much pleasure working with people who are passionate about waking up and going to work, continuing our philosophy of creating beauty with savoir faire but never taking ourselves too seriously,” he says. “The day you think you are important, you are lost.”

This enigmatic approach has resulted in a host of interesting timepieces since Dordet’s ascent to the top job two years ago. Among them are a host of pocket watches that encapsulate that ethos. Arceau Pocket La promenade de Platon is a series of three pocket watches that unites enamel, micro-sculpture and engraving in a stunning visual execution of equine art. Meanwhile, the Pocket plain cuir pays tribute to Hermes’ leathermaking and watchmaking disciplines, with a leather sheath around a mechanical self-winding timepiece powered by the inhouse-manufactured H1912 movement. The Slim, meanwhile, is transposed into a pocket watch in the Slim d’hermes Pocket Panthere which, as its name suggests, features an enamel-painted panther with colours composed of micro-fragments affixed onto the white gold case and – across 25 firing cycles in the kiln –transformed into glass. www. hermes.com ≠