At Hermès, corners are never cut. And this becomes abundantly clear when talking to Guillaume de Seynes, member of the Hermès family and managing director in charge of the manufacturing division and equity investments. Quill & Pad’s Elizabeth Doerr recently had the chance to chat with de Seynes to understand the brand’s corporate philosophies and history in watches a little better.
As a great many watch lovers know, straps and bracelets have the ability to make or break a watch. While many might find the “vintage” appearance of mesh too delicate for today’s watches, for me mesh remains one of the most beautiful ways to dress up a watch, whether new or old. So what’s the attraction?
Today many premium watch brands look for that certain “extra element” to get ahead of the competition, and one hot item now is straps. If it is true that shoes make the man, then the strap must make the watch. Jan Lidmaňský shares a selection of interesting partnerships between the worlds of watches and leather.
What is the most precious element of any watch brand? Its manufacture? Its skilled employees? Its brand ambassadors? Its boutiques? Martin Green thinks that it’s none of those, because the most important asset of a brand is its so-called DNA. Here he explains how brands better used their DNA at the 2018 edition of the SIHH.
Early American historian and Harvard professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich titled her 2008 book ‘Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History.’ Ulrich would probably be very interested to know about three famous Swiss and French brands whose very first wristwatches were made for – and in a way by – women. These watches by Breguet, Hermès, and Patek Philippe have made history.
At the 2019 SIHH, Ian was jolted at a private Hermès presentation by a watch so new that it would not be launched for a couple of months yet: the Slim d’Hermès Titane. Two things surprised him about the Slim d’Hermès Titane: just how much he liked it (and “liked” as in “he wants to buy one”) and how, when Ian personally focuses on the independents, did he start considering Hermès?
The Hermès Arceau L’Heure de la Lune offers a unique view of the moon and its phases using a simultaneous display from the viewpoints of both the northern and southern hemispheres. And then there’s that flying horse. . .
Our friends at The Watches TV visited Cristalleries Saint-Louis to find out how Hermès achieves the modern, “square” look of the crystal dial in the ultra-limited Arceau Lift Millefiori.
La Montre Hermès belongs to the elite circle of watch manufacturers offering a profoundly poetic expression of timekeeping through its métiers d’art watches. One recent example is the Slim d’Hermès Marche du Zambèze, a vibrant and colorful celebration of African wildlife en miniature.
The latest addition to La Montre Hermès’ watch line, the Slim d’Hermès GMT, is a model I can only describe as having a cool and playful personality – the perfect watch for someone looking for something wearable, yet completely different and incredibly useful for traveling.