Working wonders
THE EXQUISITE MOTIFS ON NEW WATCHES BY HERMÈS HORLOGER
Adial’s limited space challenges artisans to work wonders on faces of exceptional timepieces released each year by Hermès Horloger.
The exquisite motifs also celebrate the heritage of the French maison, whose watchmaking division was established in 1978, in Bienne, Switzerland. Since then, Hermès Horloger has shown its technical prowess through avant garde complications and meticulous craftsmanship exhibited in the exceptional timepieces.
The new collection presents the miniature works of art in white-gold Slim d’Hermès and Arceau watches. Slim d’Hermès Pégase Paysage showcases the art of wood marquetry while harking back to the brand’s equine origins.
A closer look of the Pegasus’s portrait reveals how woody nuances cast undulations evoking a bird’s-eye view of hills, water and terraced rice fields. The artisan selected various woods — purple amaranth, yellow pear, and chestnut trees, as well as macassar ebony and madrona burr — for their specific shade and grain to depict the alluring “horse landscape”.
For instance, the small waves of orange-brown to pale red are rendered by the madrona burr that is both very hard and difficult to work with.
Tiny pieces of the wood are cut and assembled like a jigsaw puzzle, glued in place, then sanded and varnished for a beautiful finish.
The wood marquetry required three weeks of work along with rigorous discipline, patience and dexterity, in creating the stunning dial of the Slim d’Hermès Pégase Paysage, available in eight pieces.
Likewise, the painstaking process paid off in a philosophical pattern on the dial of Arceau Astrologie Nouvelle, a limited edition of eight. Taken from a silk scarf, it expresses a rhythmical cadence characterising the flow and acceleration of time.
The marquetry features tulipwood from the yellow poplar, or Virginia tulip tree, native to North America. It has a precious heart that evolves from white to very dark blue over time.
Designed in 1992 by French artist Annie Faivre, a pattern on the Grands Fonds scarf appears as a micromosaic on another Arceau timepiece.
Standing out against a turquoise blue background, the exotic fish is a composition of glass tesserae in various colours, cut and melted at more than 700 degrees Celsius to form fine filaments, then cut again into small squares and placed one by one, using a wooden peg, on the dial base.
After one month of drying, the micromosaic with a perfectly flat surface is housed in Arceau Grands Fonds, issued in six pieces.
Besides a shimmering marine creature, the new collection also features a feline, in Arceau Baobab Cat.
The cat is actually a leopard, centred in a flower, from an Hermès scarf designed by South Africa-based Ardmore artists. The flowers of the colossal baobab tree only open at dusk, just when the leopard ventures out in search of its prey.
The scene has been hand-painted on the onyx dial, which also features an engraved and hand-painted mother-ofpearl appliqué. Light-blue sapphires on the bezel further enhance the beauty of the model, available in 12 pieces.
Gem-setting is combined with mother-of-pearl marquetry in Arceau H déco, whose motif is inspired by eponymous Hermès porcelain tableware while the centre bears a double H.
THE WOOD MARQUETRY OF THE SLIM D’HERMÈS PÉGASE PAYSAGE REQUIRED THREE WEEKS OF WORK ALONG WITH RIGOROUS DISCIPLINE, PATIENCE AND DEXTERITY
The black and white pattern also recalls the ironwork adorning the boutique on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.
The mother-of-pearl artisan carefully places each fragment of the motif, cut to just 0.2mm thick, on the sculpted and polished white-gold base.
The gemsetter then adorns the dial with diamond hoops on the black mother-of-pearl version, and painstakingly paves precious stones on the white version with arched decorative fillets.
The diamond-set case along with a rose-cut diamond on the crown further make the Arceau H déco a sparkling piece.