At the Watches and Wonders 2025, Hermès released playful novelties and revisited its ‘Time suspended’ complication in the Arceau and Hermès Cut lines.
‘We live in an era when suspending time for a while would be a gift,’ Laurent Dordet, CEO of Hermès Horloger, began his presentation at the Watches and Wonders 2025 fair. His 10th year at the helm of the watchmaking department that is also his 30th anniversary at the Maison is an eventful year indeed. When hard times come, playfulness is what helps us to remain sane and resilient. Fun and creativity have always been at the core of Hermès (as also demonstrated at the 8-day pop-up Hermès in the Making exhibition in Zurich in November 2024) and this year’s novelties are infused with it too.
Launched in 2011, the ‘Time suspended’ or Le Temps Suspendu complication is Hermès’ way to pause the time on demand.’ By the press of a button, the watch hides the hour and minute hands under the 12 o’clock position, creating the illusion that time has stopped. Of course, the movement continues running in the background, ensuring accurate timekeeping. With another push, you can resume the time. The complication was developed in collaboration with Jean-Marc Wiederrecht of Agenhor, a renowned Swiss master watchmaker.
This year Hermès has revisited the feature in Arceau and Hermès Cut models and has collaborated with filmmaker, artist, video editor Sarah-Anaïs Desbenoit, creating an atmospheric stage for these novelties.
Arceau Le temps suspendu
Since its original design by Henri d’Origny in 1978, the Arceau has evolved with various complications, including Arceau L’Heure de la Lune (2019), making it one of Hermès’ most iconic watch lines.
The latest Arceau Le temps suspendu novelty has 42 mm case with an openworked dial revealing the exclusive ‘Time suspended’ module. It is driven by a Manufacture Hermès H1837 movement visible through the transparent caseback. The 4Hz automatic calibre was designed and built by the Vaucher Manufacture Hermès partially owns.
The white or rose gold cases are combined with three colours – sunburst blue, sunburst brun désert, sunburst rouge sellier – reaffirming the timeless nature of the line with its characteristic asymmetrical lugs crafted in the Hermès Horloger workshops.
Arceau Rocabar de rire
Hermès presented a cheeky horse in its ‘Exceptional pieces’ collection this year. The novelty reinterprets the mischievous ungulate imagined by Dimitri Rybaltchenko for the Rocabar de rire silk scarf. Freelance designer Dimitri Rybaltchenko works in Paris and for over 30 years, he has collaborated with some of France’s leading design houses. He has designed silk scarves for Hermès, decoration for Fendi Casa, perfume packaging for Diptyque, and window displays for Hermès, Dior and Saint-Laurent.
As another 2025 ‘on-demand’ function, the prankster horse sticks out its tongue, driven by a spring mechanism of the Manufacture Hermès H1837 movement linked to the pusher at 9 o’clock.
The animal is a tiny engraved sculpture decorated with miniature painting, while the background of the horse is a colourful horsehair marquetry. The artisan meticulously selects horsehair strands in different colours, cuts them and then glues them one by one onto the brass base.
The Arceau Rocabar de rire with an anthracite alligator strap is issued in a numbered 12-piece limited edition.
Maillon libre
The new Maillon libre line reinterprets the iconic anchor chain link of the House as a wristwatch and a brooch watch, which can be worn in multiple ways. You can wear it as a brooch on your lapel or on a jacket sleeve and you can transform it into a pendant thanks to its leather cordlet in a black swift calfskin or matt black alligator clochette – a nod to the brand’s saddlery heritage.
The brooch watch comes in three models – polished white gold with diamonds and an onyx dial and a cushion-shaped indicolite tourmaline, white gold set with sapphires and a cushion shaped imperial topaz and a rose gold piece with diamonds and a cushion shaped terracotta tourmaline.
Photo credits: Hermès. Loupiosity.com
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