Hermès H08: pops of colour and clever stop-start mechanics

Philippe Delhotal, the creative director of Hermès’s watchmaking division, has been good for the brand. Very good indeed. In 2015, he created a game charger for the luxury maison: the Slim d’Hermès, a sleek dress watch with, for the first time, mechanical components made entirely in-house. The watch was an instant hit and it gave the brand’s horological department a major boost, so much so that Hermès watches have once again become emblematic of the company’s talent for creating wearable icons that react to the zeitgeist yet harness a timeless craft that speaks of quality and impeccable style. If you think back, this is exactly what Martin Margiela did in the late 1990s with the “double tour” (twice looping) Cape Cod watch, which pretty much put Hermès timepieces on the fashion map.

Indeed, according to an article in The New York Times in 2017, Delhotal has an intuitive way of knowing where opportunity knocks, reporting that, “after less than two years, the Slim line accounts for 10% of Hermès’s entire watch business”. Since then, Delhotal has been thriving at the top, conceiving the design of some spectacular timepieces, including the Arceau Le temps voyageur, the first worldtime iteration of this model, released in April 2022 and noted for its charming local time subdial that glides around a map of the world like a satellite, illustrating a second time zone as it slowly shifts in a circle.

This was a highly complicated release, but Hermès matched it with a chic sporty sellout in the form of Delhotal’s H08 watch, characterised by its robust, industrial looking cushion case and “woven” rubber strap, designed to “embody a harmonious blend of strict discipline and innovation”, according to Calibre magazine.

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A balance of softness – see its rounded edges and shadowy tonal contrasts – and machine-like strength given its sturdy blockish structure, the H08 encapsulates a certain audacity and daring that is indelibly linked to the French maison, best demonstrated by its low-profile ultra-luxe “sur-mesure” workshop which makes extraordinary made-to-measure wonders – everything from leather-clad jukeboxes and boxing gloves to custom interiors for classic cars. You could say that Delhotal has captured this branch of luxury that demonstrates a passion and curiosity for objects, allowing serious product design to harness a playful edge.

Material innovation

At the 2023 Watches & Wonders exhibition in Geneva, Hermès made a statement about success with the release of a new H08 mono-pusher chronograph which has a slightly larger 41x41mm case, crafted from carbon fibre composite coated with graphene powder. Moody and seductive, its blackened gold dial decorated with classic orange accents, is complimented by a sunburst satin-brushed ceramic bezel with mirror-polished chamfers. Visually, there’s a “neatener” that completes this streamlined horological composition, in the form of a single button on the black PVD-coated crown that serves to activate the chronograph’s start, stop and reset functions by successive presses. Like a true Hermès classic-in-the-making, the chronograph comes dressed to impress with an orange rubber strap featuring a structure reminiscent of Hermès weaves.

Continuing this fresh and sporty directive are four new “colour pop” versions of the self-winding 39x39mm models with straps available in bright blue, green, orange or yellow. One major difference is that the concrete grey dial now has a brand new contour: a black ceramic bezel and a case hewn from a lightweight composite made of braided and aluminised glass fibre and slate powder, which lends this model a more layered and reflective look.

Watch lovers have noted this further gear shift towards material innovation. As A Blog To Watch said, Hermès has “adopted not only an attractive type of composite material but, for now, one that is also unique to its products”.

The statement intimates that there could soon be more to come in the way of composite cases, and while watch aficionados are wondering when 3D printed profiles might properly catch on, it’s unlikely that Delhotal will take this route given his love of the hand-drafted and handcrafted. “We are known for craftsmanship and creativity,” he told Robb Report in 2016. He’s certainly upheld this belief, and with gusto.