Hermes Watches
ALL HERMES WATCHES MODELS
All About Hermès Watches
History of Hermès
The company’s founder Thierry Hermès (1801–1878) was a talented harness craftsman. Moreover, he was a creative genius and visionary businessman. In 1837, he established a workshop in Paris to produce high-quality wrought harnesses and bridles for the carriage trade. His innovative products won several awards at that time.
Under the effective management of the founder’s son Charles-Émile Hermès, the company started producing saddles in large scale. After the retirement of Charles, his sons Adolphe and Émile-Maurice took over the management of the family-owned company and retitled it to Hermès Frères. During this time, Hermès commenced the production of leather goods and clothing collection.
In the early 1920s, the first Hermès leather handbag was launched. In 1925, the luxury brand also introduced the famous golf jacket. In 1935, the Parisian company launched the iconic "Kelly bag" and the famous Hermès carrés scarves and in 1937, the first silk scarf. In 1949, the luxury brand’s first perfume, "Eau d'Hermès" was introduced. After the demise of Émile-Maurice, Robert Dumas-Hermès took over the management of the company in 1951.
In 1967, Hermès launched the first ready-to-wear collection for women. The company continued diversifying its product range. After the death of Robert Dumas in 1978, his son Jean-Louis Dumas was appointed as the chairman.In 1978, Hermès acquired John Lobb, the high-end footwear manufacturer.
Jean-Louis had efficiently managed the company until his retirement in January 2006. Under his management, Hermès worked with acclaimed fashion designers like Eric Bergère, Bernard Sanz, Martin Margiela, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christophe Lemaire. During this era, the iconic brand became a prominent face in the high-fashion industry.
Throughout its illustrious history, the iconic luxury house remained under the direct ownership of the founding family. Presently, the sixth-generation members of the Hermès family manage the company activities.
History of Hermès Watches
In 1928, Hermès introduced its first watch collection. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Hermes partnered with the legendary Swiss watchmaker Universal Genève for producing luxury-designer wristwatches for men and women. In 1978, the Paris luxury house founded its own watch manufacturing company La Montre Hermès in Switzerland. In 2003, the company started producing its own watch calibers in collaboration with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. To mark this key achievement, Hermès introduced Dressage, the first collection of its timepieces to be equipped with the in-house calibers.
Vaucher Manufacture was founded by the Sandoz Family Foundation, which is the major share holder of the Fleurier based watch movement company. In 2006, Hermès acquired 25% of Vaucher Manufacture shares.
At the same time, La Montre Hermès set up a workshop to craft leather straps for its timepieces. In 2012, the company acquired Natéber, the dial manufacturer based in La Chauxde Fonds. In 2013, Hermès bought majority shares of Le Noirmont based watch case manufacture Joseph Erard SA. These strategic business decisions allowed the company to achieve the functional independence.
Hermès Watch Collection
Popular watch collections from the House of Hermès are Arceau, Cape Cod, Carré H, Clipper, Slim d’Hermès, Faubourg, Médor and Nantucket.
The very first Arceau watch was designed in 1978 by Henri d’Origny, the artistic director of Hermès. This extensive collection offers pocket watches and wristwatches, for both men and women. This classic watch line offers time-only models and watches featuring complications like Chronograph, Calendar with moon-phase, Double moon-phase, Flying Tourbillon and Tourbillon with minute repeater. The Arceau watch is also available with skeleton versions. An interesting timepiece from Arceau collection is Le temps suspendu, which incorporates the playful time-suspended complication.
The Cape Cod watch was designed by Henri d’Origny in 1991. This timepiece highlights an ageless design, the “anchor chain” motif imagined by Robert Dumas in 1938. These timepieces feature a distinct shaped case, like a square embedded in a rectangle. This comprehensive collection offers plenty of attractive options to choose from, including different case-sizes, materials and decorative designs.
Introduced in 2010, the Carré H watch was designed by Marc Berthier, the acclaimed French designer and architect. The hermes h watch features a square case and highlights a modernistic design. The Clipper is a sports watch collection. With bold and masculine design with rugged exteriors, this hermes watch mens is available in automatic and quartz variants.
The Slim d’Hermès watch was designed by Philippe Delhotal, creative director of La Montre Hermès. Introduced in 2015, this collection highlights a refined design with sophisticated finish. The Slim d’Hermès watch is available in automatic and quartz versions.
This collection includes time-only, small-second, GMT and Perpetual calendar versions as well as a variant featuring the unique “Impatient Hour” function. Except some special models, all timepieces from the collection feature hour-markers based on the fonts created by Philippe Apeloig, the renowned French graphic designer and typographer. The collection also offers a number of special models featuring artistic dials.
Faubourg is a unique collection of miniature timepieces for women. This hermes ladies watch features a 15.5 mm diameter case and equipped with a quartz movement. Inspired by the “anchor chain” motif, the Nantucket collection offers slender watches created especially for women.
Introduced in 1993, the Médor watch takes its design inspiration from the dog collars produced by Hermès during the initial years of the company. The most recent Heure H Double Jeu model was inspired by the iconic hermes heure h watch designed by Philippe Mouquet in 1996.
Own Hermès Watches Now
Hermès timepieces are known for their original designs and ageless case designs. Each collection has its distinctive case style, designed by the most gifted designers. Hermes makes timepieces with high-quality materials like stainless steel, titanium, gold and platinum. The brand also offers gem-set versions of its various watch models. Normally, hermes watch price range starts around US$ 2500 and it can reach up to a whopping US$ 270,000 for complication models like Tourbillon with minute repeater.
Hermès is a master in producing various styles of dials using different materials, designs and patterns. Featuring original designs and various fonts, these dials always maintain sophisticated finish and high legibility. In its own dial manufactory, Hermès also creates eye-catching artistic dials to adorn its exclusive timepieces.
Hermès has been recognized world-wide for its extensive collection of designer scarves. The Paris fashion house offers a broad selection of beautiful scarves designed talented artists and designers. In some watch models, Hermès incorporates magnificent dials inspired by various scarf designs. It also crafts beautiful dials made from exquisite materials like mother-of-pearl and porcelain as well as dials with lacquered or enameled finish. The brand also uses decorative techniques like miniature painting, engraving and gem-setting to create elaborate designs on the dial. Hermès also produces leather watch straps in various colors and styles like single tour and double tour.